Daddy Darry
by BSBnACcHiCk
Summary: PLEASE REVIEW! As if Darrel Shayyne Curtis, Jr.'s life isn't hard enough!
1. Chapter 1

It was late, past midnight. Our house was dark and silent. They were asleep and had been for several hours. The piece and quit suddenly ended then. I shot up in my bed at a piercing scream. "Ponyboy's having a nightmare again." I thought as I jumped out of bed and hurried to my brothers' room. But wait. that wasn't Pony screaming. I pushed the door open fast and saw Sodapop underneath the covers, shaking with cries, as he sobbed into the sheets. Ponyboy was sitting in the bed next to Sodapop, startled. I rushed over and pried the sheets off my brothers face, as Soda tried to hold them down. "Sodapop, what happened?" I asked, sincerely concerned. Boy, did Soda look upset.  
  
"Darry?" Soda asked meekly.  
  
"Yeah honey. What happened?"  
  
Soda sat up quickly and clung to me, burying his face in my shoulder. "I thought it was real." He said muffled, into my t-shirt.  
  
"Soda?" Pony asked. "Are you ok?" Soda shook his head.  
  
"You thought what was real?" I asked holding onto my brother.  
  
"This dream I had. It was horrible."  
  
"What happened?" I asked, rubbing his back.  
  
"Those social service people- they took us away and we had to go live in a different state. no, a different country and it was awful, Darry. It was horrible!" Soda sobbed.  
  
"Shhhh." I held Soda close. "It's ok. It's all-right. Just a bad dream. That ain't ever gonna happen, I promise."  
  
"I know, it was just so real that it scared me, Darry. It scared me something awful."  
  
"Of course it did. Don't worry though. It ain't real. Here, lie down, little buddy."  
  
"I ain't going back to sleep. There ain't no way I'm going back to sleep." Soda cried refusing to lie down. "I don't ever wanna dream that again."  
  
"Calm down, kiddo." I said, rubbing Soda's head.  
  
"Darry, please don't make me go back to bed. Please?" Soda pleaded, crying again and holding on to me tighter. I could feel him kind of shaking.  
  
"Ok, ok. Calm down." I said. "Come and watch some TV or something. Get your mind off of it."  
  
"I wanna too." Pony said.  
  
"Go to sleep." I told him. "Fine." Pony grumbled, lying back down.  
  
I walked with Sodapop out to the living room and he turned on some crazy show. I don't remember what. He put his head down on my shoulder and tried to stay awake for as long as his exhausted body would allow him too. I put an arm around him and rubbed his shoulder and eventually he fell asleep. I put a blanket on him and sat down in a nearby arm chair. I was afraid he might dream again and wake up in a panic if he was by himself. I can still pick my youngest brother up but I haven't tried picking Soda up recently. I suppose I might have been able to carry him to bed if I'd really tried but I was afraid I'd wake him. So we both slept in the living room for the rest of that night. Or at least he slept. I had been lying awake in my bed all night before that, and now I was sitting awake. It didn't make much difference to me. I was just hoping I might get at least five minutes of shut-eye.  
  
***  
  
I woke up late that Saturday morning. Gosh but my head hurt. I wasn't quit sure why. Maybe it was because I was overtired or maybe I'd hit my head while roofing and I just didn't remember. It didn't really matter how though. The point was that it hurt. I forced myself up. I couldn't lay there any longer. It was already almost noon and I had things to do. I wondered why I hadn't been woken up earlier by something. Things aren't usually to quiet around here.  
  
After getting showered and dressed I walked back out into the living room. It was obvious that my brothers were up and about because everything that I had cleaned up the night before was now all over the living room again. I sighed and walked into the kitchen, opening the fridge to get out the chocolate cake and then going over to the cupboard to get out the coffee beans. I could hear loud voices coming from down the street were the lot is and I figured they were all out there playing football. I wondered why I'd slept so soundly. I'm usually the first one up.  
  
As I walked into the living room to drink my coffee and read the paper, the front door swung open and Soda came tumbling in, Steve right behind him. I was reminded that it had rained the night before because of the mud that was covering both of them. "Morning Dar." Soda said flopping down on the couch.  
  
I could've fallen out of my seat at that moment. "Soda, you're getting mud all over the place!" I shrieked.  
  
Soda lifted an arm up and studied the couch pillow. "It'll come out." He said, trying to rub it off with his muddy hand, only causing more of it to smear everywhere.  
  
I sighed, giving up. "I suppose you expect me to wash those close now." I mumbled, looking at his filthy attire and becoming almost positive that those stains would never come out.  
  
"That'd be nice." He grinned.  
  
"Where's Pony?" I sighed.  
  
"On his way back from the lot with Two-Bit. Hey, if you think I'm dirty you ought to check out those two." Soda said.  
  
Wonderful. I thought. "Go get cleaned up."  
  
"I thought maybe I should keep this mud on for a while. I heard it's good for your skin." Soda said.  
  
"Go clean up before you make an even bigger mess." I laughed. He got up and headed for the bathroom and at that moment Pony and Two-Bit came trotting in. "Out!" I yelled when I saw them. "On the porch! Do not take one further step into this house!" Soda was right. Steve and he were not at all dirty compared to those two. They both found it quit amusing and I couldn't help but grin even though I was freaking out about the state of the living room carpet. "Go hose down or something." I said. "You guys look like you jumped into a pit of mud."  
  
"Well, we kinda did." Ponyboy said, looking at me through the screen door.  
  
"Ya'll don't have enough sense to play a football game elsewhere when the grass is soaking wet?" I asked them.  
  
"Well, golly Dar. There ain't much other place except the house and you would've gone crazy if we were playing tackle football in the living room." Pony said.  
  
"Oh c'mon Darry. Don't tell me you wouldn't have come out and joined us if you'd woken up on time." Soda said, coming out of the bathroom showered and dressed in clean clothes.  
  
I considered that for a moment. "It's unlikely." I said. "Now like I said. You ain't coming into the house looking like that." I turned my attention back to Ponyboy and Two-Bit. "So do something. I dunno what, but clean up."  
  
"The hose is mine." Pony yelled and jumped off the porch and ran towards the side of the house to find it. Two-Bit followed close behind.  
  
I shook my head and turned back to the paper. "It might do you some good to go with them, Steve." I said as I read an article about the public school system. I then became bored with that and got up to join my now semi clean brothers and friends in a game of poker. Pony, who wasn't paying attention and had yet to notice that I had sat down right beside him, was lighting a cigarette. I took it away from him and put it out. "No smoking in the house." I said sternly. He sighed and looked back at his cards.  
  
"Hey, check this out." Two-Bit laughed. He had found the newspaper and was looking through it. "This guy is suing McDonalds because he's been eating their food for three years every day and now he's fat!" He broke down laughing hysterically. (There really is a guy who's suing McDonalds as you probably know, so it wasn't my original idea.)  
  
"You gotta be kidding me." Soda said. "Lemme see that." Two-Bit, who was still cracking up, threw the paper to Soda who scanned through the article. "That is to funny." Soda laughed, handing the paper to Ponyboy who was busy laughing too.  
  
I rolled my eyes. "Stupid." I muttered. "That's one of the most ridiculous things I've ever heard of."  
  
"What a dumb ass." Pony laughed.  
  
I reached over and gave him a hard flick on the mouth. "Mind your language." I warned.  
  
"Ass ain't a bad word." He said. "OWE! Ok, ok. Sorry."  
  
"Hey Dar, this chick called earlier today. She was asking for you." Soda said.  
  
"Who was it?" I asked.  
  
Soda shrugged. "I dunno. She didn't give me her name she just asked if a Darrel Curtis still lived here. I told her yeah and then she asked to talk to you but you were sleeping. Then she just said thank you and goodbye and hung up."  
  
"Strange." I said, trying hard to think about who it could possibly be. "Why couldn't you just ask her what her name was."  
  
"I didn't get a chance to." Soda said. I sighed. "I bet she'll call back. She sounded real upset when I told her you were sleeping."  
  
"It's Darry's secret lover." Two-Bit suggested and ducked my swing. I spent the rest of that day wondering who it was that had called. 


	2. Chapter 2

That night when we had all sat down to dinner the phone rang. I groaned and got up to get it. "Hello?"  
  
"May I please speak to Darry?" The voice said.  
  
"That's me." I said. The line was silent for a minute. "Hello?" I asked again.  
  
"Um, Darry, it's Brooke. Brooke Talent."  
  
I didn't say anything. I didn't know what to say. Brooke Talent? My mind was racing. Brooke Talent? I hadn't heard from my high school girlfriend in over two years. One day she had just up and left. I hadn't seen her since. I finally spoke up. "Brooke?" I said shakily.  
  
"Yeah. Listen I really need to talk to you. There's something really important that we need to discuss."  
  
"Well it's a little late for explanations on why you never said goodbye, don't you think?" I snapped. My shock had suddenly turned to anger.  
  
She sighed. "Darry, please. I need to talk to you. Will you meet me somewhere?"  
  
"What? Now?" I asked. "It's been over two years, Brooke. You can't wait one more day?"  
  
"No, it's really important."  
  
I sighed and glanced over at my brothers in the kitchen who were staring at me. They quickly looked away. "All-right." I said. "Where?"  
  
"Remember that place we used to hang out at all the time? Is that still open."  
  
"Yeah, the Dingo." I said.  
  
"I'll meet you there in ten minutes." She said and hung up before I could say anything further.  
  
"Broo-" Dial tone. I put the phone down and went to get my shoes. "Pony, Soda," I said walking back out. "I have to go see someone. I don't know when I'll back. Maybe an hour."  
  
"Where you going?" Pony asked.  
  
"I'll tell you later. Both of you stay here until I get back." I said and left.  
  
I got there five minutes later and pulled up to the curb to park. As I walked in I saw her. I paused for a moment and just stood at the door. I then took a deep breath and walked over there, sitting down. She looked up surprised.  
  
"Hi." She spoke softly. Boy did she look nervous but she looked as beautiful as she always had.  
  
"So what is it that you had to talk about right this second?" I asked. She didn't say anything for a minute.  
  
"Well, why don't you do me a favor and first explain why you disappeared the day before graduation and never made any effort to contact me and tell me where you had gone? The only thing you left behind was that ring I gave you, which I found in my locker on what was supposed to be one of the happiest days of my life?" I asked.  
  
"Darry, I'm so sorry. I know I should've-"  
  
"Two years after you're apologizing? Are you expecting me to say it's ok? To tell you that it doesn't matter anymore? I'm over it? It's all-right? Is that what you want me to say because it ain't happening."  
  
"Darry, I have something I have to tell you and it's not easy for me so please just listen."  
  
I looked at her curiously. "What is it?"  
  
She pulled a small picture out of her purse and handed it to me. I looked at it and studied the infant in the photograph. An idea was dawning on me.  
  
"That's Katherine Marie Curtis. She's one and a half years old."  
  
I slowly looked up at Brooke. "Do you mean to tell me that-"  
  
"I would've told you sooner Darry but I didn't know how."  
  
I held the picture up to her. "This is my baby girl?" She nodded. "Are you sure?"  
  
"Yes." She laughed but tears were rolling down her cheeks. "I wasn't sleeping with anybody else while I was dating you."  
  
I looked at her shocked. I didn't know what to say or think. It was hard to speak and I was afraid if I did I'd start screaming for all the anger that was slowly growing inside me. I finally found something to say.  
  
"I've had a baby for a year and a half and you didn't get a chance in all that time to tell me about her? You couldn't have done me the courtesy or saying, Darry, I'm pregnant before you decided to pick up and leave?"  
  
She wiped away escaping tears but couldn't hold back the sobs. "I was scared Darry. I didn't know what to do and I didn't want to hurt you. You had your whole life ahead of you. I didn't want to throw this news at you right before graduation. I wanted you to get to college and go on living your life the way you've always wanted to."  
  
"Don't you think I have the right to know about my own child!?" I said, fuming. No wonder she wanted to meet in a public place. I would've completely blown up at her over the phone.  
  
"I'm sorry, Darry. I just-"  
  
"You can't just come back years later, tell me I've got a kid, and expect everything to be ok. It ain't ok. There's a lot about this that ain't ok. If you'd told me it's not like I wouldn't have been supportive about it. Brooke, we could've gotten married and taken care of the baby. We still could've gone to school. We would've figured something out! Something!"  
  
"It wouldn't have been that easy, Darry. You know it." She said.  
  
"You still should've told me. I can't believe you went all this time without letting me know." We were silent for a moment. I looked at the picture again. "She's cute." I said.  
  
"Yeah, she is." Brooke said.  
  
"Where is she?"  
  
"Who, Katherine?"  
  
"No, the first female president of the United States. of course Katherine!" I yelled. I'm guessing by this time everybody in the Dingo was looking at us but I don't know for sure because I wasn't paying attention to that.  
  
"She's at home with a sitter."  
  
"I wanna see her."  
  
"Now?" Brooke asked.  
  
"Yes, now! It's been long enough already. I wanna see her."  
  
Brooke nodded. "All-right. Lets go." We got up and walked outside. "Don't you wanna follow me in your car?" She asked.  
  
I shook my head. "No, I'll ride with you if you don't mind. I don't want to risk you taking off again." She looked hurt but nodded. I got in the passengers seat and we drove for a while.  
  
My anticipation was growing by the second so I started to make small talk. "Where are you staying?" I asked.  
  
"With a friend."  
  
"Where do you live now?"  
  
"I moved to California." She said. "When I was growing up I always wanted to live near the beach."  
  
"I know. You told me." I said. "We used to have big fights about that, remember?"  
  
She nodded. "I wanted to get married and move there. You wanted to stay in Oklahoma where all your family is. I just wanted to get away from mine. Sometimes I just hate my parents."  
  
I sighed at her words. "You ought to stop hating them and establish a relationship. I love my parents and I miss them something awful. I hate seeing people that have their parents still but just take them for granted."  
  
"What are you talking about?" She asked.  
  
"A little while after you left my mother and father died in an auto wreck. So I dropped everything I was doing and started taking care of my two kid brothers. I have been ever since."  
  
"I'm sorry about your parents, Darry." She said softly.  
  
"Thanks." I said, staring out the window. It really hurt to talk about it. 


	3. Chapter 3

The house she was staying in was nice. It wasn't a big fancy place but it was nice. It looked better than our house anyways. I was guessing her friend was about middle class. I was getting more nervous by the minute. We walked up to the front door and she unlocked it and led me in. "Is your friend home?" I asked.  
  
She shook her head. "No she's out for the night." I followed her further into the house and into a big bright room. On the floor with several scattered blocks sat a young teenage girl and a small infant. They both looked up when we walked in and the infant squealed at the site of Brooke. "Hi baby." Brooke said and went over to pick her up. "Hi, mama." I stared at the baby. She was beautiful. The most beautiful baby I'd ever seen. "Tracy, I know I'm back earlier than was expected. There was a small change of plans." Brooke said to the teenage girl who had stood up now and was looking back and forth from Brooke to me.  
  
"Not a problem, Mrs. Talent."  
  
Brooke paid her and she left. I was standing there in the room, awkwardly. Brooke broke out of her dais and came over to me, holding Katherine out. I looked at her wide eyed and hesitated. "Go on." Brooke laughed. "She doesn't bite."  
  
I took the small child in my arms carefully and held her. She stared up at me with big green eyes and smiled. "badugwagusa." She said. Brooke and I laughed.  
  
"When's her birthday?" I asked, just to be saying something.  
  
"March 3, 1965." Brooke replied.  
  
"March 3rd." I said, softly, studying my daughter and loving her more and more every second. Gosh it was weird loving someone that you'd just met.  
  
"She's adorable, isn't she?" Brooke asked.  
  
I nodded. "Precious. Absolutely precious." I held her for a few more minutes and then started asking a million questions. I didn't know anything about her. "Does she walk, what's she eat, can she talk yet, what was her first word?" Brooke answered all my questions and then Katherine gave me a demonstration of her walking skills. She walked from me to the couch and back and then let me pick her back up. "She's so small." I said.  
  
Brooke laughed at me. "Well, baby's are small, Darry."  
  
"I'd forgotten what baby's were like. I was only six when my youngest brother was born." I said. Now that I was here and I had met my daughter and become somewhat reacquainted with Brooke, something occurred to me. Was I going to be able to see my little girl periodically? Was Brooke gonna go back to California with Katherine? "Brooke, how long are you planning on staying in town?"  
  
"For a little while." She said a bit to quickly for my liking. I really didn't trust Brooke. Not after what she did to me.  
  
I was holding the baby so that her head was resting on my shoulder and she was chewing on a chain that hung around my neck. I didn't mind. It was actually really cute. "Well, it looks like there's an immediate father and daughter bond." Brooke said. I smiled and looked down at Katherine.  
  
She caught my look and grinned back up at me. "Heeheeh!" She laughed. Her smile caught my attention right away. It looked just like Sodapop's. just without as many teeth. Gosh but she was the cutest little thing I'd ever seen. She didn't ever seem to quit smiling.  
  
"I still wanna know why you decided to tell me now instead of before you disappeared." I said and Brooke looked away.  
  
"Just because."  
  
"Because why?"  
  
"Because it was time, that's why."  
  
"No, it was time to tell me two years ago when you first got pregnant." I said. "Do you need child support or something? Is that why you're telling me?"  
  
"It's nothing like that!" She snapped and I didn't say anything further. "I don't wanna talk about this anymore. The point is I told you and now you know." She said.  
  
"Fine but where'd you get the money to take care of her? You were working at a pizza joint last time I checked. How did you support yourself and a kid? I doubt your parents gave you the money to take off."  
  
She glared at me. "I know how to take care of myself. I'm not as dumb as you think I am. I don't need to depend on anybody but myself." She said.  
  
"That's a bunch of nonsense." I said. "What kind of money could you possibly be making without a college degree and a child to care for?"  
  
"Listen I married a fifty year old rich bachelor before she was born. After I gave birth I divorced him and got a some change. Does that answer your question?  
  
I stared at her shocked. This was not the Brooke that I remembered. No, the Brooke I new was sweet, considerate, smart. "Sounds to me like you do need somebody else to depend on if you're marrying a guy over twice your age just to steal his money."  
  
"Oh shut up!"  
  
"You are so full of it. Do you know that?" I said.  
  
She simply ignored me and said "Watch her for a minute while I go to the bathroom, ok?"  
  
I nodded and looked back down at Katherine. "How in the world am I gonna tell my brothers about you?"  
  
***  
  
I got home hours later at about eleven. I had been with them for a while talking about all sorts of things I'd missed out on. We also talked more about us. Me and Brooke I mean. I walked in and Pony was on the couch, staring at the TV. He looked up when I walked in the door. "Hey, Dar! Where the heck have you been?"  
  
"It's kinda a long story. I'll tell you in the morning." I said.  
  
He looked kinda disappointed but nodded. "All-right."  
  
"Hey, where's Soda?" He didn't have to answer that though because there was a big smashing sound, like breaking glass from the kitchen and Soda came out with a coke. "You gotta be that loud while your getting something to drink?" I asked.  
  
He looked at me sheepishly. "I really hope you ain't to fond of that blue mug because it's a. kinda all over the kitchen floor now."  
  
I pointed back towards the kitchen and he got the idea. "Fine, where's the broom."  
  
"Same place it always is." I said. "And watch out for your feet, since there's glass everywhere."  
  
"Thank you, Darry. I hadn't thought of that." He said sarcastically. "Hey where have you been anyways?" He asked as he swept up pieces of the broken mug. "You pick up a hot chick or something?"  
  
"Yeah, Darry." Pony said. "Ask her if she's got a little sister around my age."  
  
"Very cute, you two." I said. "Actually I was with a girl. Two in fact." I muttered the last part. "Don't stay up to late, all-right?"  
  
"But it's summer. I have all day to sleep tomorrow." Pony said.  
  
"I don't care. I don't want you guys up all night, understand?" I said.  
  
"Yes ma'am." They both chorused.  
  
I sighed. "You had that planned, didn't you?" I asked.  
  
"Maybe." Soda said, coming out of the kitchen and then they both made a dash for their room. I chuckled to myself and retired to my own room, flopping down on the bed in exhaustion. "How you gonna tell them about all this?" I asked myself out loud. 


	4. Chapter 4

"So tell us Darry. What was it that you where doing last night?" Soda asked the next morning as he put his DX shirt on.  
  
"Yeah, Darry. Where were you last night?" Two-Bit asked, who had no idea what we were even talking about.  
  
I rolled my eyes. "Where's Pony?"  
  
"PONY!" Soda yelled.  
  
"What?" Pony yelled back and came tumbling out of his room two seconds later, hopping up and down on one foot while he tried to put his other shoe on. He tripped and fell down on the living room carpet. "Owe." He moaned. I stifled a laugh and helped him up.  
  
"Now that he's out here will you tell us?" Soda asked, hopefully.  
  
"Tell you what?" I asked.  
  
"What happened last night obviously." Soda said, getting a little annoyed.  
  
"Not now. You and me gotta get to work. It's late." I said and grabbed my keys. "Pony what are you doing today?" I asked.  
  
"Going to a movie with Two-Bit?" He asked.  
  
I nodded. "C'mon Soda we gotta go." I had decided not to tell them until we had the blood tests done and I was positive. We were getting them done that afternoon, so if it was for sure I'd tell my brothers that night. How? I didn't know. Right then I just had to find out if I was really a father.  
  
I met Brooke and little Katherine in front of the hospital. We had scheduled an appointment the night before. She didn't think it was necessary but I had demanded it. I needed to be sure and after I was I could figure out what I was going to do. Brooke greeted me and we went up to the second floor to the doctors. We had to wait for a while before they were ready for us but we finally got it done and over with and I was glad of that.  
  
I was nervous the whole rest of that day. Most of me wanted Brooke to be mistaken. I hoped that the father was someone else. I knew that wasn't likely though and I doubt that Brooke was lying when she said she wasn't sleeping with anybody else. But I kind of hoped that she was. Another small part of me wanted her to be right though. I was beginning to like the idea of having a little girl. I was beginning to like it a lot in fact but I was still scared.  
  
That night the doctor called. I had been waiting by the phone the whole time. I picked it up immediately and answered.  
  
"Hello, Mr. Curtis?"  
  
"Yeah, did you get the results back yet?" I asked quickly.  
  
"Yes, 99.9 Mr. Curtis."  
  
I swallowed hard. So now I knew. She was my little girl, all-right. It was for sure. "Thank you." I said softly and hung up. Now that I knew I felt relieved. I fell down on the couch and laid my head on one of the pillows. Now came the next hardest part. telling my brothers. I thought about how I would tell them and tried to think out a speech. As hard as I tried I couldn't come up with one so I called them both into the living room.  
  
"What's going on?" Pony asked.  
  
"I need to talk to you guys about something." I said. "Something real important."  
  
"What'd we do?" Pony asked.  
  
"Nothing, I just need to talk to you." I said. They both sat down on the couch and looked at me, waiting. I sighed. "Listen I'm just gonna cut right to the chase. Sodapop remember that girl I told you about? Brooke? My old high school girlfriend?" Soda nodded. "Well she called the other day."  
  
Soda raised his eye brows. "What'd she want?"  
  
"Who's Brooke? You never told me about any Brooke." Ponyboy said. "How come nobody ever tells me anything?"  
  
"I will tell you that story another time but for now would you both just listen?" They didn't say anything so I continued. "I apparently have a child." I said, plainly. I then paused waiting for a response. For several moments they just stared at me blankly. Oh boy. I thought  
  
"What?" Soda asked.  
  
"I'm a father. I have a little girl. She's one and half."  
  
"You're kidding right?" Pony asked.  
  
"No." I said. Both of my brothers looked at each other and then back at me. "I found out yesterday. She met me at the Dingo and told me all about her." I continued.  
  
Once again they didn't say anything. Then Soda spoke up. "How come she's telling you all this now? Why didn't she just tell you when she got pregnant? I don't get it."  
  
I sighed. "Neither do I."  
  
"Well, what're you gonna do?" Pony asked.  
  
I shrugged. "I dunno right now, kiddo. Brooke's gonna be in town with the baby for a while so I guess I'll spend some time with her but I'm not really sure what's gonna happen."  
  
"You gonna marry the mom?" Pony asked.  
  
I sighed. "I dunno."  
  
"I still don't even know who Brooke is." Pony said. "Would somebody please tell me?"  
  
I took a few minutes to explain to my youngest brother what had happened with the love of my life and he listened intently to ever word I said. Then just as I had expected he went on to ask a million more questions and get all the details of the situation. Soda who hadn't said anything for a while now was beginning to worry me. "Soda, you ok?" I asked him.  
  
He nodded. "Yeah Darry. I'm fine but I'm worried about you. Golly, this is all really out of the blue. I mean it's one of the last things I had expected you wanted to tell us."  
  
I studied him for a minute. He wasn't fine. I knew better than to believe that. He was upset and I could see it in his eyes. "Yeah, I know. I'm still taking it all in too."  
  
They were both looking kind of upset and shocked. "Don't look so glum guys." I said. "I'll work everything out."  
  
"What do you want us to say?" Soda asked. "Congratulations? I mean truth is Darry it ain't that great of news. And how the heck are you gonna work all this out?"  
  
I sighed. "You're mad at me, ain't yah?" Soda just looked away and stared at the wall. I groaned inwardly. I had figured one of them would be. I didn't blame him. I'd only told him a million times to be careful and not to get involved before he was ready but that whole time I guess it really wasn't my place to talk.  
  
"Have you seen the baby yet?" Pony asked, softly.  
  
"Yeah, last night I went over to where Brooke is staying and I got to spend some time with her."  
  
"What's her name?"  
  
"Katherine Marie Curtis." I answered.  
  
"Well, what's she look like?" Soda asked, still looking away.  
  
"Real light blond hair, green eyes, pink cheeks, your smile."  
  
"My smile?" Soda asked, finally looking at me.  
  
"Yeah, the second she smiled it reminded me of you."  
  
"What about me?" Pony asked. "Does she look anything like me?"  
  
I laughed. "Not really kiddo but we'll see."  
  
"I wanna see her." Soda said.  
  
"You will."  
  
"When?" Pony asked.  
  
That question was answered for Ponyboy later on that night when Brooke called and asked me to watch the baby the next day. "I have work tomorrow." I said.  
  
"Please, Darry. Please. It's important."  
  
"What do you have to do that's so important?" I asked.  
  
"I have some things to do. Lots of them and I couldn't find a sitter." She said.  
  
"Take her with you." I suggested. I would've watched her but I could hardly afford to miss even one day of work. Ok fine, you got me. I have absolutely no idea how to take care of a one year old!  
  
"I can't taker her. Please?" Brooke begged. I gave in and agreed. I did want to see Katherine but believe me when I tell you I had no idea what I had just gotten myself into. 


	5. Chapter 5

Brooke came over the next morning early with Katherine. The amount of stuff she was carrying looked like she was getting ready to go into hiding for a year. I couldn't' believe it. She must've had three bags full of things that she threw down on the living room floor. "What's all that for?" I asked.  
  
"That's just about everything you'll need." She said and looked at her watch. "Well, I gotta run. I'm late." She gave Katherine a big hug. "Bye bye, be a good girl." She handed her to me and smiled.  
  
"When are you coming back to pick her up?" I asked.  
  
"I'm not sure. I'll call you. She might cry a little but she usually doesn't. Bye!" She was out of there and swerving down the road in her car in a second.  
  
I just stared down the street for a moment and then looked over at my daughter who pointed down the road and said sadly, "Mama go bye."  
  
"What's all the commotion?" Soda asked, walking out of his and Pony's room and rubbing his eyes. I hoped he was done being mad at me. He hardly talked to me at all the night before. I knew Pony was upset too but he was trying hard to be nice about the whole situation.  
  
"The baby's here." I said. Soda had already figured that out and was coming over to see her.  
  
"That's your kid huh?" He asked. I nodded. "How do you know for sure?"  
  
"We got blood tests done yesterday." I said. "Didn't I already tell you that?"  
  
"No, you skipped that part." He said. Katherine looked over at Soda with her big green eyes and smiled. He grinned back at her. "I guess she does smile kinda like me."  
  
"She sure does." I nodded. "Hey Pon. C'mon out here." I called.  
  
"I'm sleeping." He yelled back, drowsily. "Why do I gotta get up? I don't got work like you two. I think I'll just stay in bed till one p.m." He rubbed it in.  
  
"C'mon kiddo. C'mere for a second and then you can go back to bed if you havta."  
  
"I don't wanna get outa bed." He grumbled. We could barely hear him from the living room.  
  
"Get up and come here." I said more firmly. He came loping in a minute or two later.  
  
"Is that her?" He asked. "Golly, she's cute." She really was cute. I knew Soda thought so too but he wouldn't say it because he was still to hacked off at me.  
  
"Glad you like her. You can hold her while I take a shower." I said and handed her to Pony before he got a chance to protest. When I was done I came out and found the other three boys huddled over Sodapop and looking down at her as she sat in his lap and looked at all the strangers surrounding her. I smiled.  
  
"Where'd the kid come from?" Two-Bit asked. "Soda and Pony won't tell us. They say we gotta ask you."  
  
"She's my daughter." I said. "Go ahead, you can tell um what happened. I don't wanna explain it again." Both of my brothers went on to tell a very shocked Steve and Two-Bit the story. Steve didn't have much to say at that moment. I figured he and Soda would talk more about it when they left. Two- Bit however always has something to say.  
  
"No way." Two-Bit said when they had finished. "You're a daddy? I'm sorry but I just can't picture you as a father." I glared at him.  
  
"What's she doing here?" Steve asked. "Where's her mom?"  
  
I shrugged. "Said she had some stuff to do and asked me to watch her."  
  
"How olds the little tyke?" Two-Bit asked.  
  
"One and a half. Right Darry?" Pony asked.  
  
I nodded. "That's right."  
  
"So what the heck you gonna do about this?" Steve spoke everybody's thoughts.  
  
"I dunno, I really don't know." I said, softly. Truth is I really didn't know. I had loved Brooke before. I'd loved everything about her. Now she was different though. She wasn't the same Brooke I'd dated since sophomore year and I didn't love the different Brooke. I loved the old one. So when Pony asked me the night before if I'd Marry her the truthful thing to say would've been no. I knew it was the right thing and best for Katherine. I new that it'd be best to raise her with two parents, but how can you marry somebody that tore up your heart?  
  
"Hey! She's eating my switchblade!" Two-Bit exclaimed. She had apparently managed to get it out of his pocket and was now chewing on it. Boy was I glad you had to push hard on that thing to open it.  
  
"Get that away from her!" I said. Soda quickly pried it out of her fingers before she accidentally flicked it open. She started to cry right away and we all looked at each other hopelessly. What were we gonna do now?  
  
"Umm." I grabbed one of the bags that Brooke had dropped off and searched through it for something that might comfort her but I really had no idea what I was looking for. I found some sort of stuffed toy and threw it to Soda. He took it and all the sudden it became animated as he made it dance around and say stuff in a strange voice I'd never heard Soda talk in before. She converted from crying to laughing. I sighed, relieved.  
  
"Pony, you wanna stick around today and help me out?" I asked.  
  
He looked at me and raised his eyebrows. "What's in it for me?"  
  
I sighed. "C'mon." I said. "Please?"  
  
Soda laughed. "Darry has no idea what he's doing."  
  
"What, these things don't come with instructions or anything?" Two-Bit asked.  
  
Steve ripped a piece of paper off one of the bags. "Take a look at this you boneheads." He said.  
  
I snatched the sheet of paper away from him and scanned through the neat handwriting. It was a list of what to do. "Oh, well this helps." I said. She also told me what bags had what in them. Like diapers and bottles and stuff. I was relieved.  
  
"Well, have fun Darry." Soda said, grinning widely as he walked out with Steve.  
  
"Very funny." I said but they were already out the door.  
  
"What's for breakfast, Dar?" Pony asked.  
  
I rolled my eyes. "Ponyboy, do I look like I'm in any kind of position to be making you breakfast?" I asked, as I held Katherine, who was trying to tell me something but I wasn't sure what she met.  
  
"Yum num." She said.  
  
"What?" I asked.  
  
"Yum num yum num yum!" She yelled.  
  
I looked at Pony. "What's she want?"  
  
Pony shrugged. "Yum num? Umm. maybe that means. food!"  
  
"Is that what you want?" I asked her. "You hungry? You want some food?" She nodded.  
  
Ponyboy was beaming. "I was right." He gloated.  
  
"Yeah, yeah." I murmured, looking at the list to see if it mentioned what she ate. "She really likes scrambled eggs and for lunch you might try peanut butter and honey." She had written this across the bottom of the page. I was relieved. I had all those things and I went to the kitchen to make eggs after giving her to Ponyboy.  
  
"Yeah he'll make you breakfast but he won't make none for me." I heard him mumbled to Katherine. I felt lousy. Pony had a point.  
  
"Pon I'll make you something. What you want?" I asked.  
  
"Never mind. I don't want nothing anymore." He said.  
  
"You sure?" I asked.  
  
"Yeah, I'll make something for myself later."  
  
I mentally slapped myself and went on to make her eggs. It was a tough job feeding her. She could eat it herself without help but I didn't have a highchair for her so we kind of just put her on the living room floor in front of Mickey Mouse with Two-Bit. She didn't seem to mind and I had laundry to do. I figured she'd be ok for a few minutes with him. Right? WRONG!  
  
I came back twenty minutes later and Two-Bit announced that he had taught her a few new words. I think you already have the idea so I don't need to repeat what they were. I smacked Two-Bit upside the head and Katherine erupted with giggles. "Boo boo." She said. Pony and I laughed but Two-Bit didn't.  
  
"Pony, remember that whenever she cries all we gotta do is smack Two-Bit, ok?" Pony nodded, still laughing. Two-Bit just glared at both of us and turned back to the television.  
  
"Well, at least she ate." I murmured, noting the empty plate that sat beside her. However half of the food was on the floor.  
  
"Darry?" Pony asked.  
  
"Huh?" I answered.  
  
"Something smells really bad and I mean really bad."  
  
I scrunched my nose up noticing it to. "Two-Bit did you do that?" I asked.  
  
Two-Bit nodded towards Katherine and said, "Ten bucks says it was her."  
  
"Oh no." I groaned. "Ponyboy, I'll pay you to change her."  
  
He shook his head. "Not in a million years. You're her daddy. That's your job. I'm just here to see how horrible you do today."  
  
I sighed and picked her up, holding her away from me since she smelled horrible. "Thanks so much for the support Pon." I never knew something so small could produce such a horrible smell. Of course right after I had finished that unpleasant task she did it again! It was going to be a very long day. 


	6. Chapter 6

Yeah, it was a long day all-right. It felt more like a week than a day. By five o'clock when Soda got home there was baby powder covering half of the living room, scrambled eggs stuck in the carpet, dirty diapers piled up high in the trash can, and several stuffed toys in various places. However, to my great relief she had worn herself out and fallen asleep on my shoulder. When Soda and Steve walked in to find the house in such a condition they both broke down in laughter and I couldn't get them to shut up until several minutes later. I was busy on my hands and knees trying to clean all the baby powder off of the furniture. I had put Katherine in my bed, in the middle with two pillows on each side of her. So I don't know much about baby's but at least I know they fall out of bed, right?  
  
"Darry!" Soda said, rolling with laughter. "This place looks like it was invaded by Martians. What the heck have ya'll been doing today?"  
  
"Don't ask." I murmured and that just made everybody laugh harder.  
  
"Where is she?" Soda asked, when everybody had calmed down. "Did you loose her already?"  
  
"No." I said sullenly as I finished getting the baby powder off of the piano. "She's sleeping and if anybody wakes her up their in for it." I said. I guess they knew I met business because they lowered their voices. It took me an hour to finally get everything cleaned up. Pony and Soda weren't any help at all either. I didn't want to make them though because it wasn't their job to clean up my kids mess. After checking up on Katherine I went into the kitchen to start dinner. Just as I began though she started to cry.  
  
"Oh Darry." They started.  
  
"I hear her." I said grumpily and made my way back to my room. "Shhh." I said, picking her up. She stopped crying after a minute of so and I carried her back out into the living room. "Guys why don't ya'll go out to eat." I said, throwing Soda some cash. "I'm gonna stay here and wait for Brooke to pick her up."  
  
"Tuff." Soda said cocking an eyebrow as he counted the bills. "Can we take the truck?" I nodded and threw him the keys. They all stood up and headed out happily.  
  
"Soda, Pony." I yelled after them. They turned. "If ya'll wanna go somewhere after dinner give me a call first so I know where you are, ok?"  
  
"Sure thing, Dar." Soda said.  
  
"Bye." Pony yelled.  
  
When they were gone I went into my room and got the number Brooke gave me for where she was staying. It was already six p.m. and I really wanted to know where she was. I called and asked to speak to Brooke Talent.  
  
"I'm sorry, I'm afraid you have the wrong number." The women on the other line said.  
  
"Oh," I said surprised. "I'm sorry, Bye." I hung up and sighed. Then I wondered. would she give me a phony number? I turned to Katherine. "Where's your mommy huh? Do you know?"  
  
"Momma go bye bye." She said.  
  
"Yeah she did." I said walking into the kitchen to get her some dinner. "But she's supposed to come back soon. I don't know if she gave me enough diapers and stuff to last this long."  
  
"Num num." She said as I got out the peanut butter.  
  
I chuckled to myself. "Yeah, I agree. This is good stuff."  
  
I woke up at 10 p.m. I had fallen asleep in front of the television with Katherine on my lap. I almost stood straight up but then I remembered she was there. I gently lifted her and brought her to my room to sleep. When I checked the clock I freaked out. Where in the world was Brooke? She hadn't even called like she said she would. I hoped I didn't sleep through any phone calls. Wait a second. where are Pony and Soda? They left at six and I know dinner didn't last four hours.  
  
"Darry, you awake?" Someone yelled. It was Pony. Oh ok, so they were home. That's one less thing to worry about.  
  
"Yeah." I shouted back. "Listen guys." I said walking into their room. "Brooke still ain't back yet so I'm gonna go over to the place she's staying. Katherine's asleep in my room. Watch her until I get back ok?"  
  
"Why do we havta baby-sit?" Pony asked.  
  
"She's sleeping. All you havta do is listen for her."  
  
"What if your gone a long time and she wakes up?" Soda asked.  
  
"I won't be gone long." I said and went out to the truck. Right about now I was beginning to wonder if Brooke was even gonna come back at all. I pushed that out of my head though and convinced myself that she would. She's just running late. I told myself. Really late. I found my way to the house she'd driven me to before. A young women answered the door. About my age. She looked at me strangely.  
  
"Can I help you?"  
  
"Yes, is Brooke here?" I asked.  
  
"Oh no." She said so softly that I could barely hear her.  
  
"Excuse me?" I asked.  
  
"You're Darry, aren't you?" She asked. I nodded. "I'm sorry, I don't wanna get mixed up in this. I didn't know you'd come here. How did you know. did she show you this place?"  
  
"Where's Brooke?" I asked, ignoring her questions. I was beginning to loose my temper. I'd been nice and watched Katherine all day when I was supposed to be at work and now it was past ten p.m., Brooke was still gone, and nobody would tell me what was going on.  
  
"I don't know where she went." The girl said. "I'm sorry." She shut the door and locked it.  
  
"Hey!" I yelled and pounded on the door. "Hey, open up! I need to talk to you!" There was no answer and I soon gave up and got back into my truck.  
  
"Darry, how come the kids still here anyways?" Soda asked the second I walked in. "When's Brooke coming back?"  
  
"I don't think she is coming back." I said, fuming. I had really known this in the back of my head ever since five p.m. I knew if she wasn't back by then she wouldn't be returning at all. Brooke had done this once before and I didn't doubt that she would do it again.  
  
"What do you mean you don't think she's coming back!?" Soda shrieked.  
  
"You know what I mean." I said.  
  
"What's wrong?" Pony asked, walking out.  
  
"Darry, she can't do this." Soda said. "There's gotta be a law or something. Ain't there a bunch of legal stuff involved in things like this? Whatever happened to custody hearings?"  
  
"Shut up and lemme think." I said. I didn't mean to say that to him but I was kind of freaking out at that moment.  
  
"What are you guys talking about?" Pony asked. I shushed him and tried to think of what to do. Maybe I'm just overreacting. I told myself. She could be here any minute. I knew that was unlikely though.  
  
"I think that Brooke took off. I doubt she's coming back, Ponyboy. She probably went back to California."  
  
"Was that her that called?" Pony asked.  
  
I turned to him. "What?"  
  
"This lady called and she told me to tell you to look in the blue bag she left. She said there was something in the side pocket that she needed to give you." At his words I rushed over and ripped open the bag. I yanked out a bunch of forms and this brown paper sack. The papers contained her birth certificate and other legal things like that. There was also a letter. I then emptied out the paper sack and three stacks of a hundred dollars bills came out. I could hear my brothers gasp.  
  
"There must be at least ten thousand dollars here." I murmured, remembering the story about her wealthy ex-husband. I then opened up the not and read it.  
  
Dear Darry, I've gotten into some trouble and I can't take care of her anymore. Most of Katherine's clothes and toys are in those bags I left with you. I've also left some money which you'll find in the bag and I hope it will help with most of the expenses. I'm so sorry I had to do this to you again but I had no where else to turn. Please take care of our daughter for me. With Love, Brooke 


	7. Chapter 7

"You know what, both of your input is not helping right now." I said the next morning to my brothers. They were as upset as I was and decided they'd give me trouble about the whole situation. I really had no idea what I was going to do. I did care about my daughter but I knew I couldn't watch her full time. I had work and my brothers and all sorts of things to deal with already. What was I gonna do with a baby. "I can't miss another day of work." I mumbled. "Ponyboy, you gotta watch her for me."  
  
"Why me?" He asked angrily, jumping up from the kitchen table were he was eating breakfast.  
  
"Because there's nobody else who can. We can't afford for me to skip work again. I missed all of yesterday."  
  
"What the heck do you mean we can't afford it? That girl gave you like a gazillion dollars." Soda said. "That ought to tie us over for a while. I counted that money. There's over thirty thousand dollars there! Did she marry a millionaire or something?"  
  
"Actually she did." I said and ignored both of their surprised looks. I had counted that money myself last night. It had been more than I thought. "That money ain't for us, it's for everything I'll need for Katherine."  
  
"So because of your stupid mistake I can't enjoy the rest of my summer vacation?" Ponyboy said angrily. "I've gotta baby-sit from eight to six everyday? That ain't fair!"  
  
"Hey!" I yelled but then stopped myself. He was right, it was my stupid mistake. "It's only for a few days until I figure out what to do. I'll find some kind of day care or something. I dunno yet but I need you to help me out for the time being, ok?"  
  
"Why can't Two-Bit do it?" Pony asked. "I doubt he'd mind and I don't know how to take care of a baby. Maybe Two-Bit might have some sort of idea since he has a little sister."  
  
"Two-Bit is not watching her." I said. "That's a bad idea and you know it." He sighed. "I'm gonna pay you Pony. You'll get something out of it, I promise."  
  
"Fine." He grumbled.  
  
I smiled. "Thanks kiddo." I said and went on to give him tips on what to do. I'd learned several things yesterday.  
  
"I'm gonna go shopping after work today. I have to get some stuff for Katherine and I'll bring home pizza, ok?" He nodded.  
  
"I can't believe this is happening." Soda mumbled. " I mean don't get me wrong Dar. She's cute and I like her a lot but how in the world is this gonna work?!"  
  
"I don't know!" I yelled. "Stop asking me that because I don't know. I am going to figure something out."  
  
"Well, what if the people from the state find out?" Soda asked. "What if they split us up?"  
  
"That ain't gonna happen." I said. "Let me take care of all this, don't keep worrying about it. I will figure out how to make everything work." That was a lie if I've ever told one. I had no idea what I was going to do about all of this. "C'mon we gotta get to work."  
  
"Where's Katherine?" Pony asked. "If you want me to watch her I have to know where she is."  
  
"She's still sleeping." I said. I had a feeling she'd be crying like crazy, wanting to know where her mother was but I wasn't about to tell Pony that. He was already reluctant enough. "Thanks Pon." I gave him a pat on the back as I headed out.  
  
"That really ain't fair to him." Soda said as we got in the truck.  
  
"I know." I sighed. "But I don't have much other choice. You know just as well as I do I can't miss more work and we sure can't leave her with Two- Bit all day."  
  
"I know." Soda said.  
  
"Can you quit being mad at me now?" I asked. "I know this is hard but what do you want me to do Sodapop? Put her up for adoption or something."  
  
Soda shook his head. "Course not Darry. I'm just worried about you. You already work hard enough as it is."  
  
I nodded. "I know, so I need your help ok?"  
  
"Yeah, sure Dar." I gave him a big hug and then started up the car, looking at my watch. Late late late late late.  
  
When I got home later Ponyboy handed me a screaming Katherine and stomped off to his room. I sighed and looked over at her. "What's wrong? What's the matter?"  
  
"Want mama!" She cried.  
  
"I know." I said. "I wanna know were your mom is too?" She finally quit crying when I gave her some ice cream. "Ponyboy, come get some dinner!" I called.  
  
"I'm not hungry." He yelled back. I looked over at Soda for answers.  
  
"He says he never wants to have children. Their to much work. I guess he had a hard time today."  
  
I nodded and handed Soda a twenty. "Will you go give that to him after dinner? I got a hunch that he won't let me in if I knock."  
  
"Man for this much I think I'll baby-sit tomorrow." Soda smiled and took another bite of pizza. "I thought you said you had to go shopping."  
  
"I did. All the stuffs in the back of the truck. I'm gonna bring it in later. It's nice to go into a store and have enough money for everything you need and more." I said. Soda laughed. We always had to be careful with money. It didn't grow on trees in our neighborhood.  
  
"More pease." Katherine said, walking up to me with her bowl.  
  
"She's gonna eat all the ice cream before I even get to it." Soda said.  
  
"As long as it keeps her from crying she can have all she wants." I said as I put two more scoops of chocolate in her bowl.  
  
"I hope you got her a highchair so she don't have to keep eating on the floor like that." Soda said.  
  
"I did but I have to set it up and I'm to tired to do it right now."  
  
Soda was quiet for a minute. "Darry I'm worried about Pony. He broke off with that girl. You know the one he's been seeing for the past month?"  
  
I looked up at him. "Why? I thought they were doing great."  
  
"I thought so too but Pony said she was just going to fast. He didn't know how to take it all in and I guess he got scared."  
  
I nodded. That sounded like Pony. "Did that happen today?" I asked.  
  
Soda shook his head. "No, about a week ago."  
  
"Why didn't he say anything to me about it?" I asked.  
  
"I dunno." Soda shrugged. I sighed. I wish that kid would talk to me. He hardly opens up.  
  
"So you know, it just worries me. It's his first girlfriend. first breakup. He ended it himself but still he ain't doing to well."  
  
"He was probably afraid he'd get burned if he got to involved." I said.  
  
"Prolly." Soda said. And speaking of Pony he came walking in. "Here I'm spose to give this to yah." Soda handed Pony the twenty.  
  
"What's this for?" He asked.  
  
"For helping me out today." I answered.  
  
"Nah Darry, that's all-right." He set it back on the table. "That's an awful lot."  
  
"Well I've got an awful lot to spend. That money Brooke gave me is for whatever I need for Katherine and today I needed a babysitter so take it." I handed it back to him.  
  
He smiled. "Thanks, Darry."  
  
I nodded. "Have something to eat. I doubt you've had anything since breakfast since you've been watching her all day." He sat down and grabbed a slice of pizza. I looked over at Katherine to make sure he was ok and then went out to the truck to get the things I'd bought. I had basically just walked into a baby store, told the girl who worked there how old Katherine is, and asked them what all she'd need. I came out with a crib, a highchair, and a car seat. Oh and that was just the first store that I went to. I went to two others and got a bunch of stuff at both of those too.  
  
My brothers came out to help me a few minutes later and the first thing we did was get her crib put together. I put her in front of the TV with another bowl of ice cream and she stayed content in the living room for a while. I made a mental note to buy more ice cream next time I went to the store. However it did take me over an hour to get her to go to sleep. She kept asking for her mom. How do you explain to a kid her age that their mother walked out on them and left them with their father who didn't even know about her until three days ago? 


	8. Chapter 8

I woke up the next morning to, "Num yum! Num yum!" There was no doubt about who that was. Katherine obviously wanted to eat. I groaned and rolled over. We'd put the crib in Soda's old room so when I finally got myself up that's where I went. "Num!" She said again when she saw me. I lifted her out of her crib.  
  
"Yuck, you need a change, little one." I said, smelling it right away. After that was done I took her out to the kitchen to get her some breakfast. "You want some eggs?" I asked her. "You know what, I think we'll all have eggs. Pony! Soda! Wake up!"  
  
"Ake up! Ake up!" She yelled. I laughed and put her down so I could start breakfast. "Num yum! Num yum!" She yelled.  
  
"I know." I said. "Sheish, I'm making it. You ain't to patient now are you?"  
  
"Upy." She said, looking at me and holding her arms out.  
  
I sighed. "I can't right now, see I'm making num yum." I held the egg up. I wish she'd make up her mind. One minute she wanted to eat and the next she wanted me to pick her up. It ain't easy to cook with only one hand.  
  
Soda walked in then, showered and dressed. "Breakfast ready?"  
  
"Upy!" She ran to him.  
  
"Awful demanding, ain't she?" Soda said, lifting her up.  
  
"Just hold her for me while I make these eggs, ok?" Soda nodded. A few minutes later I set all the breakfast down on the table and Soda placed her in her highchair, which we'd set up last night. "Where's Pony? Ain't he out of bed yet?" I asked.  
  
"I'll get him." Soda said, going back to their room. They both came in a couple minutes later and sat down. Pony really ain't a morning person and especially in the summer but he knows if he doesn't wanna make his own breakfast he's gotta get up early to have whatever I make. Soda and me have to leave by eight for work.  
  
I finished quickly and got up. I needed to hurry If I was gonna be on time. "Upy." Katherine said.  
  
"Daddy has to take a shower." I said to her and exited. Gosh it was weird calling myself that but I figured I'd get used to it after a while. "Keep an eye on her." I said as I walked out. "Make sure she eats some eggs and not just chocolate cake."  
  
"Darry would you hurry up in there!" Soda yelled the second I got in. "She's crying again!"  
  
I groaned. Couldn't I have one minute of peace? I finished as quickly as I could and got dressed. "What's wrong with her?" I asked.  
  
"She's fine now." Pony said.  
  
"All-right. Pon, I need you to watch her for me again. Maybe tomorrow too but after that I'll have figured something out, ok?"  
  
"Fine." Pony sighed.  
  
"Hey, I really appreciate it." I told him. I wanted to make sure he knew that.  
  
"It's ok." He said.  
  
"Upy!" Katherine yelled for the hundredth time that morning.  
  
I picked her up. "I gotta go bye bye now." I said. "You'll have fun with Pony." I gave her a little kiss and handed her to my youngest brother. She started to cry again so me and Soda rushed out of there. "Try giving her ice-cream." I suggested, as I got into the truck. Pony nodded and we saw him head for the kitchen. Yeah, I know it ain't good for her to be eating ice-cream all the time but I was just using it until I figured out what else to do.  
  
At three that afternoon I got a call at work. Well not at the actual office place that we arrange things but at the house I was roofing that day. I already knew who it was. I figured he called and got the number from my boss. "Pony, this better be important. I'm really busy right now."  
  
"Darry, please come home. I can't stand it anymore. She's crying and crapping and she wants something every second. Half of the time I don't understand what she wants and then she starts crying like crazy and I've got the headache the size of New York City. Please come home!"  
  
"Pony, I can't. I'm right in the middle of-"  
  
"Please!" Pony begged.  
  
"Gosh, kid. It's that bad?"  
  
"YES!"  
  
I sighed. "All-right, I'll be there in fifteen minutes." I hung up and explained what was going on. The other guys weren't happy but I headed out anyways. When I got home Pony was more than relieved. Katherine was banging on the piano keys and the second I stepped in Pony ran out the door to the porch and lit a cigarette. "I know that I didn't just leave work so you could have a smoke." I said angrily.  
  
"No, Darry. Seriously, she's driving me nuts!" I sighed and walked in.  
  
"Hey Katherine, no piano, ok?" She looked over at me and smiled, reaching her arms out. I picked her up and held her on my hip while I went into the kitchen to get a glass of water.  
  
"Darry, I'm gonna go see a movie." Pony announced.  
  
"Not alone." I said.  
  
"But Two-Bit ain't around and Soda and Steve are at work." He gripped.  
  
"Pon, you ain't walking by yourself."  
  
"Would you drive me then?"  
  
I sighed. "All-right, I'll call Soda and have him come by and get you on his way home from work. Go get that car seat I bought her yesterday. Do you know how to buckle it in?"  
  
"I'll figure it out." Pony said and went off to find it.  
  
"We're gonna go on a little errand." I said to Katherine who was playing with the collar of my shirt. "Pon, did she eat lunch?" I shouted.  
  
"Yeah, I just gave her the peanut butter jar and she helped herself." I rolled my eyes. When we'd figured out how to attach the car seat we left and I drove him over there.  
  
"Do you have that money I gave you yesterday?" I asked him. He nodded. "All- right. There's another ten for you when you get home."  
  
He smiled. "Tuff!"  
  
"Remember you're walking home with Soda. He'll meet you here at five thirty."  
  
"Ok." He said, hoping out of the truck.  
  
"Jue. Jue." Katherine said from the backseat.  
  
Ok, what? "What do you want?" I asked.  
  
"Jue!" She said.  
  
Think Darry think. What could Jue possibly mean? Um. juvenile NO July NO ummmm juice? "Juice?" I asked her. She nodded. Well we didn't have juice at home, just pop and beer. We were out of orange juice and I needed to get more anyways so I went to the store. I got that, apple juice, and grape juice since I had no idea what kind she wanted and obviously she couldn't tell me. When we got home I gave her orange juice but apparently that wasn't what she wanted because she spit it out. So then I tried apple juice and I scored. I was able to get some peace by setting her in front of the TV and giving her a bottle of 'jue.'  
  
Later on that evening Soda walked in the door and then I realized I had forgotten to call him and ask if he'd get Pony. So now it was six p.m. and my youngest brother was either waiting at the movie theatre or walking home alone. I groaned. "Soda, watch her for me. I havta go find Pony." I said, walking out the door after snatching up my keys.  
  
"What?" He asked.  
  
"Just for a few minutes." I said, getting into the truck and driving off.  
  
I found Pony when I was half way to the theatre. He was on his way home. I pulled over and he saw me right away. "Hey, kiddo. I'm sorry. I forgot to call Soda."  
  
"It's ok." He said, getting in and trying not to sound irritated about it.  
  
When we got home I spent several hours on the phone, looking through the yellow pages. I needed to find some kind of day care. I didn't want to make Pony keep watching her. Bye the time I was done it was 9 p.m. Soda made dinner and everybody had eaten except myself so I had something really quick. It was then time to complete the long and tiring task of getting Katherine to bed. She finally fell asleep at midnight and I just about passed out the second I got into my own bed. 


	9. Chapter 9

The next morning Pony was relieved when I confirmed that I had found a day care center for Katherine. After breakfast he went right back to bed. I was busy on the phone while everyone was eating. I needed to get in touch with some sort of lawyer about Katherine and gain legal custody of her just in case. I'd left a message with some secretary at the law firm. It was the same place we got the lawyer for when we all had to go to court about Pony and Soda staying with me after our parents died. It was also the same one for that whole deal we had with Ponyboy and Johnny and the killing of that soc. Soda, Steve, Katherine, and me all left at long last. I dropped Katherine off. She was awful upset about being left there and I hated to see her like that. You can't blame the poor little thing though. She hadn't seen her mother in several days and she hardly knew me and that was bad enough. Then getting handed over to a complete stranger probably didn't help her feel any better. The women there said she'd be all-right and that she'd take care of her, so I left before I had to hear her cry anymore. 

"C'mon, hurry up." Soda said, when I got back in the truck. "We ain't got all day."

"I'm aware of the time." I said, annoyed and pulled back out onto the street to drop Soda and Steve off at the DX.

I picked Katherine up at five. When she saw me she squealed like she had that day she had for Brooke. That made me feel kind of good. After I had signed her out we went home to a lovely mess. "Ponyboy, what in the world happened to this house?" I demanded of my youngest brother, who was sitting in front of the TV and drinking a coke. 

"I had a few friends from school over."

"Oh yeah? Whatever happened to getting permission?" 

"You were busy all morning. I didn't get a chance to ask you anything. Besides I didn't think you'd mind all that much. It ain't like I brought fifty people over here and totally trashed the place."

"It looks pretty 'trashed' to me." I said, moving an empty bottle out of the way with my foot. "Clean it up." He sighed, stood, and got to work. I set Katherine down and put a few toys in front of her, hoping that she'd give me at least twenty minutes to collect myself after that long day. "Where's Soda?" I asked. 

"He's with Amanda of course." Awe yes, the current love interest. 

"What do you mean of course?"

"You guys had like a five minute discussion about this at breakfast." Pony said.

"What discussion?" I asked, completely blanking out.

Pony sighed. "They're going to some party at her friends or something. I didn't catch all the details. By the way, how come Soda gets an extension on his curfew and I don't get one on mine?" 

"What are you talking about?" I asked. 

"He said he'd be home around two and you said 'fine.' "

"I what?!" Ponyboy was looking at me strangely. "I did not tell him that he could be out till two."

"Yes you did. You were waiting on hold on the phone and you two were talking about the whole thing and you told him he could."

I searched my brain trying to remember that. I was sort of beginning too. I sighed. I had so much on my mind lately that I was forgetting about all those small yet important things. "Well I didn't mean to say fine. I just wasn't thinking at the moment and he knew it too. That's why he chose to ask then." 

"Well there ain't much you can do about it now." Pony laughed. 

"It's not funny. I don't even know where he's gonna be."

"I already told you, some party that a friend of Amanda's is having. Her parents are in Europe." Like that was any comfort! I used to not worry about where Soda was as much because I didn't have any reason to but then he gave me reason. That's a different story though. "Um, Dar?"

"What?" I asked, exasperated.

"How are we gonna play poker if Katherine eats all the cards?"

"Huh?" I turned around to find that she had found a deck of cards, opened them, and half of them were now soggy and had bite marks on them. "Oh Katherine, don't eat that." I said and bent down to her level to take several torn pieces out of her mouth. "Ain't you done teething at one and a half?" I asked, picking her up. "Ponyboy, did anyone call today, asking to talk to me."

"Yeah, this lawyer or something called and asked if you were around."

"What'd you say?"

"I told him you weren't so he asked me when he could reach you."  
  
"Well then what'd you tell him?" I asked, impatient.

"I told him I didn't know."

"Pony." I groaned. "It's important that I get in touch with him. I'm trying to figure out what I need to do to gain custody of Katherine."

"Well I didn't know what the best time would be to 'reach you' so to speak."

"Tomorrow if he calls give him my work number, ok? I really need to talk to him." Pony nodded. I sighed. I had so much stuff to figure out and I didn't even know where to start. I put Katherine on the couch and bent down to pick up the pieces of cards that she'd chewed up. I then set out to make dinner. She was obviously hungry if she was eating paper. After dishes and putting Katherine to bed I flopped down in a chair and picked up the paper. Pony was stretched out on the couch, reading. 

"Ponyboy, bed in fifteen." I said.

"Yeah, ok." He mumbled, studying his novel. I guess I fell asleep because the next thing I knew it was almost completely dark in the living room and someone was walking through the front door. 

"Dar? What you doing?" He asked.

I rubbed my eyes. "Waiting up for you or at least attempting to." I yawned. "It's a bit to late for you to be getting in." I said.

"Well, you said I-"

"I didn't even hear you ask me."

"That ain't my fault." Soda said.

"You knew I wasn't paying attention." I said sternly.

"Oh c'mon, Darry. I told you I'd be at a party with Amanda and that I'd be out till two. You said that was fine."

"That's because I hardly heard you and you know it. Why would you ask if you could be out till two anyways?"

Soda grinned. "Cuz you weren't listening."

I rolled my eyes. "That's what I've been saying. C'mon lets get to bed. We gotta get up early tomorrow."


	10. Chapter 10

I got a hold of that lawyer the next day and he asked me to come meet with him to further discuss the situation. I decided it best not to take her with me because that would be incredibly distracting and once again I talked Pony and Soda into watching her. "Just for an hour or two." I said, ignoring their glares. I was gone longer than I had expected but for the most part we got everything figured out. The second I walked in the door both of my brothers jumped up. I could see by the worried expressions on their faces that something wasn't right. "What's the matter?" I asked, quickly.

"See we just turned around for a second-" Soda started talking quickly.

"Then when we looked again she was gone-" Pony finished. 

"WHAT!?" I demanded. They both flinched. "What do you mean she was gone? You lost her?" Please let them be kidding. I prayed over and over again.

"Well technically we didn't loo-"

"When was the last time you saw her?" I asked, beginning to panic.

"About an hour ago." Pony said softly. "We where all here in the living room and we turned around, just for a second."

"An hour?!" I yelled. They hadn't seen her for an hour?

"Well maybe not that long. Maybe more like forty-five minutes." Pony said. 

"We looked everywhere Darry. All over the house and we even walked around the block a few times. We're sorry." Soda said.

"Your sorry!?" I shrieked, running into the bedrooms, searching closets, under beds, and even inside dresser drawers. I looked everywhere. Even in the most unobvious places. 

"She's not here. We checked everything." Soda said. "We thought maybe she was hiding but we couldn't find her anywhere."

"Check again!" I ordered, rushing into my bedroom to look. "Katherine!" I yelled. "Katherine where are you?" I continued to yell for her as I searched everywhere from under the bathroom sink to behind the mirror but I couldn't find her. "Katherine!" I screamed, rushing out past my brothers into the living room. I scanned the room with my eyes again and then turned back to Pony and Soda. "Could she have left the house? Does she even know how to open the front door?" They both shrugged. I let out a loud breath. My heart was pounding. I was imagining all the horrible things that could happen to her. What if she had gone outside and made her way down to town? What if she'd crossed the street and gotten hit by a car?! I flinched. I couldn't stand thinking about it. "Katherine!" I screamed again. "Katherine where are you? Are you hiding?" She didn't answer. "Do you want some ice cream?" I tried. What if I never found her? How would I live with myself? What would happen when social services found out I lost my own kid? They might take Pony and Soda away from me. Oh gosh! She was only one! All sorts of things could've happened to her.

"Num yum!" we heard a little voice squeal. 

"Katherine!?" I shrieked, my heartbeat increasing even more. Then a little suit covered baby came out of the fireplace, chocolate cake covering her mouth. 

"Num yum!" She squealed again and then erupted with tiny giggles. I ran and scooped her up. She was covered with ash but she was ok and that was all that mattered. I sighed relieved. That had scared the heck out of me. 

Soda started laughing all the sudden. "Looks like she was having a party with the chocolate cake. Clever hiding place." 

I on the other hand didn't find it a bit funny. I was just glad to see that she was alive! "Katherine, no." I said. 

"Num yum!" She said, showing us her chocolate covered hands and giggling some more.

"No." I said again, pointing to the fireplace. "No." I didn't know if she understood or not but it was worth a try. 

"She don't know any better Dar." Soda said. 

"That's why I'm teaching her." I said. 

"No no?" She asked as I walked into the bathroom and turned on the bath water. 

"That's right. No fireplace and no hiding." I undressed her and put her in the tub. The water immediately became dark as I washed all the suit and ash off of her. Golly but she was a mess. She splashed around happily. By the time I had her clean and dressed again it was getting real late. I carried her back out into the living room and set her down. I then went over and laid a chair down in front of the fireplace just in case she decided she wanted to go back in there. "Stay clean, baby girl. I don't wanna have to give you another bath tonight." I said.

"Darry, we're sorry about that." Pony said.

"It's all-right." I sighed. "She's fine." I went into the kitchen and started on Dinner. 

"Hey, how'd things go with your lawyer?" Soda asked. 

"Good." I said. "I'm not sure if I'll have to go to court yet but I sure hope not. What's Katherine doing?" I asked. 

"Playing with my shoes." Soda answered. I chuckled. I was beginning to relax a bit or at least trying to but it wasn't real easy. Taking care of her was just getting harder every day. 


	11. Chapter 11

"Darry, can I talk to you?" Pony asked the next day after breakfast.  
  
"Huh? I can't now kiddo. Katherine needs a change and I have to leave in five minutes." I said, putting my shoes on.  
  
"Can't I just have a couple minutes of your time?" He asked.  
  
"When I get home tonight we'll talk, ok?" I asked, looking around the room for my keys.  
  
"But Darry-"  
  
"Tonight." I said again, firmly. He stared down at his shoes and I felt guilty when I saw his downcast face. "The second I get home, little buddy. I promise." I softened my tone.  
  
"Yeah sure." Pony said, softly. "Tonight." I smiled and gave him a squeeze on the shoulder before going to get Katherine. Wait a second, where was Katherine. I had put her down just three minutes ago. "Katherine!" I yelled.  
  
"Relax, Dar." Soda said, walking out of his old room with her. "I've got Kat right here." He said.  
  
"Kat?" I asked.  
  
"Yeah." Soda said. "The name Katherine is so long so I think we should call her Kat."  
  
"Whatever." I said, as he handed her to me.  
  
"Park!" She yelled, smiling.  
  
"Park?" I asked.  
  
"Well that was random." Soda said.  
  
"Park! Park! Park! Wan go Park!" She shouted.  
  
We laughed. "Sorry, little one. No park today. Work today. Park some other day." I changed her diaper and got her dressed. We were still working on her room. She needed a few more things in there. Like a hamper for one. Recently I'd just been throwing her dirty close on the floor since there was nowhere else to put them until it was time to do the wash. "Ok. Almost ready." I said, brushing her hair which was pretty long for a one and a half year old. It went a little below her shoulders.  
  
She started to fuss. "No no no no no." She cried, trying to push the brush away.  
  
"Ok, ok." I said, picking her up, grabbing her bag full of stuff, my bag full of stuff, and heading out to the truck. "Soda!" I yelled, as I walked out the door.  
  
"Coming." He grabbed his shoes.  
  
I dropped Soda off at work and then headed for the day care center. I signed her in and was about to hand her to Nancy, the women that runs the place but then Katherine started screaming and crying. I sighed. "No go." She said again and again.  
  
"Play and wait for Daddy to come back and get you, ok?" She kept fussing. I handed her to Nancy who did her best to comfort her but it wasn't any use and I figured she'd calm down a while after I left so I headed out. Five seconds later though I was stopped because she was clinging to my leg. She had escaped from Nancy and was holding on for dear life. "C'mon Katherine." I pleaded, pulling her off.  
  
"Want mama!"  
  
"I know." I said, bouncing her up and down and trying to get her calm. I tried again to hand her back to Nancy but she was unable to comfort her and Katherine just kept screaming. The closer I got to the door the louder she'd scream. I walked out and went towards the parking lot, continuing to listen to her screaming. Before I got to my destination though I turned around and headed back. She was having a fit to hard to handle. She usually got upset when I dropped her off but today she was really going nuts. She reached out for me crying when I walked back in and I took her.  
  
"I'm sorry Mr. Curtis." Nancy said.  
  
"It's not your fault." I said. "I think I'll take her today." She nodded and I signed Katherine out who had stopped crying. I took her back out to the truck and then sat there for a minute, thinking. I needed to go to work. I'd missed to much lately but I didn't really have a choice if Katherine was gonna scream like that. I didn't wanna make Pony watch her again and even if I did I couldn't because I told him the night before he could go to the movies and after that he had track. Since school wasn't going on and he wanted to make sure he stayed in shape he'd joined a local track team for high school kids they were holding during the summer.  
  
I realized I really had no other option but to just leave her there crying like that or to take her home. So we headed home. I didn't wanna leave her there when she was so upset. Not with her mother leaving and everything. She was just so little and of course she didn't understand what was going on. "All-right, you win." I said, pulling onto the street. I don't know if she understood me but she giggled and started clapping her hands.  
  
When we got home I got a few toys out and set her in front of them. I then laid down across the couch and closed my eyes, doing my very best not to fall asleep because I needed to listen for her. "Voom voom." I heard her go. I figured she was playing with that little fire truck the people at the baby store had given me for free since I spent so much money there.  
  
"Hewwo?" I opened my eyes to see what she was doing now. "Hewwo Hewwo bye bye Hewwo." She said into the phone, which she had grabbed off the table. I figured it was fine just as long as she wasn't dialing any numbers. "Pease, hewwo, bye bye, voom, no, yes, doggy, birdie." She went on to say as many words as she knew and was capable of at least semi pronouncing. I chuckled and closed my eyes again.  
  
"Ake up." She pulled my sleeve a minute of two later.  
  
"What, baby?" I asked, groggily.  
  
"Dis." She banged on the TV and then started hopping around the room.  
  
"OK." I said, getting up and turning it on to Mickey Mouse and then lying back down. I woke up around one, silently cussing at myself for falling asleep. Katherine was still watching the TV and somehow she had gotten the ice cream out of the ice-box and was chowing down. I should've put it higher up.  
  
"Kat." I said. I kinda liked that name. She looked up at me. "Num yum!" She squealed. "Yeah, no more num yum." I said, picking up the ice-cream.  
  
"Num yum." She whined, getting up and following me.  
  
"Lunch." I said, getting the bread, peanut butter, and honey out. I put those down on the counter and picked her up so I could wash her off at the sink. She had chocolate ice-cream all over her. After that I fixed us both a sandwich and she ate it to my relief. I wasn't sure if she was full from all that ice-cream. Now another thing I had learned recently was that kids her age are supposed to take naps. Two-Bit's mother had been calling frequently and giving me pointers. She knew I had no idea what I was doing even though I wouldn't admit it. I wasn't exactly to sure how easy it would be to get Katherine to take a nap, but I tried. "Katherine, nap time." I said.  
  
"No nap!" She said and ran into the living room. I couldn't help laughing. She was sure stubborn when it came to what she did and didn't want to do. I decided not to fight it or at least not that day. She was full of energy and she just kept on jumping around and playing. You'd think she'd get tired after a while but she didn't. I didn't get anything done either because whenever I turned my back she ended up knocking over a lamp or something like that so I spent a whole lot of time following her around making sure she didn't break anything or break herself for that matter.  
  
Around five p.m. Pony got back. "You're home early." He said.  
  
"I've been home all day." I said.  
  
"How come?" Pony asked confused.  
  
"I'll tell you later."  
  
"Ok, well I'm glad you're home because I really wanna talk to you, Darry."  
  
I looked at him closely for the first time that day. He looked sort of upset. "What's the matter, kiddo?" I asked.  
  
"Well I-" Just then I could hear Katherine start to cry.  
  
What now? I thought. "Hang on just a minute." I said, going to find her. Well it wasn't just a minute. She'd fallen off a bed or something and hit her head on a nearby chair. She wasn't to happy when I put ice on the forming bump but I needed to. I could already see a bruise. Then when that was all done she needed a change, then she needed food, then a bath, then bed and by the time I was done it was eleven p.m. Soda had cooked dinner but I didn't get around to eating it because Katherine doesn't like chicken apparently so I had to make her something else. When I finally got around to getting some rest I fell asleep instantly. 


	12. Chapter 12

"Darry!" Pony whined. I held my finger up to my mouth to silence him and continued with the conversation I was having on the phone.  
  
"Darry, I gotta-" I waved my hand at him viciously, warning him not to bug me. I was on the phone with the lawyer and it was extremely hard to touch base with that guy so when I did finally get him on the phone I didn't want to be interrupted. I had about two more minutes of peace before Pony started in again. "C'mon Darry-"  
  
"Hold on just a second." I said into the phone and put it down momentarily.  
  
"Ponyboy! Can't you see that I'm busy?"  
  
"Yes, but-"  
  
"Do not bother me while I'm having a conversation." I said sternly. "I'm talking to someone important."  
  
"But Darry!"  
  
"What?" I asked, impatiently. What was so important that he just had to tell me that very second?  
  
"I gotta talk to you!" He said, getting angry. I gotta talk to you right now!"  
  
"You can wait." I said and picked up the phone. Ponyboy stomped off angrily and I finished up talking as soon as I could. Then I headed out the door for work, scooping Katherine up and summoning Soda.  
  
"Darry, wait!" Pony yelled.  
  
I turned back around and looked at him, standing on the front porch. "What?"  
  
"I gotta talk to you about something. It's a matter of life and death!" You never knew in this neighborhood.  
  
"Literally?" I asked, seriously.  
  
"No, but-"  
  
"Then it can wait." I said and got into the truck. "I'm already fifteen minutes late."  
  
"Darry!" He yelled, after me as I drove down the street.  
  
"Why won't you let him tell you?" Soda asked.  
  
"There's no time." I said.  
  
I dropped Katherine off and this time to my great relief she was somewhat calm. Work was hard and it was a hot day. As an estimate I'd say I tore about two or three muscles just carrying bundles of roofing up the ladder. Sometimes I'd dream about being a famous football player or working in the big city as a businessman or something. I had never imagined that I'd be roofing houses for a living. Especially on Saturday. That's right. It was Saturday and I was on top of a house, sweating like crazy.  
  
I got off work at four thirty and went to pick up Katherine, who was happy to see me as she often was. I don't know why she wouldn't want to stay there though. That place has more toys then I've ever seen in my entire life. Ok, that's an overstatement but they do have a lot of toys.  
  
When I got home I got a very rude welcome. "I hate you." Pony said the second I walked in the door. He was sitting in an arm chair with a book, glaring up at me.  
  
"What on earth for?" I asked him confused.  
  
"I hate you!" He yelled. "You're such an ass whole!"  
  
"Pony!" I yelled, utterly shocked. What'd I do?  
  
"I'm never talking to you again, Darry!" He yelled, throwing his book at me and running off to his room. "Never!" he yelled again before slamming the door.  
  
"Bang!" Katherine said, when she heard it. I sighed and set her down, flopping onto the couch. "What's wrong with him?" I asked Soda, who was standing in the room silently. He just looked at me and then went to find Ponyboy. "I can't believe this." I said to myself.  
  
"Num yum." Katherine said, patting my leg and pulling on my pant leg.  
  
I sighed. "In a minute."  
  
"Num yum." She said again and started to fuss.  
  
"Ok." I said, getting up and heading towards the kitchen.  
  
"Ike ceam." She said, following me.  
  
I shook my head. "No ice-cream."  
  
"Ike ceam!" She yelled, stubbornly.  
  
"Katherine no ice-cream." I repeated, opening the fridge. I knew she understood what no met now but she sure didn't like it.  
  
"IKE CEAM!" She yelled.  
  
"No." I said.  
  
She plopped down on the kitchen floor, crying. "Ike ceam! Ike ceam!" She kept yelling. I sighed. Did I really have to deal with more tantrums today? I stepped over her carefully and went back into the living room. She continued to yell and I was getting a head ache but I ignored it anyways. I knew if I gave into her that she'd just start screaming whenever she wasn't getting her way. And no I didn't read this in a baby book. This is just the way it works with all kids or at least most of them. See I have somewhat of an idea what I'm doing!  
  
"Darry would you please make her shut-up?" Soda asked, coming out of their room.  
  
"You wanna try?" I asked. "Be my quest."  
  
He sighed. "Well, just give her what she wants." I shook my head. "Why not?" Soda asked.  
  
"I'm not giving into her yelling." I said, picking up the paper.  
  
"But she's so loud." Soda said.  
  
"I know." I said, annoyed. It took a while but finally she stopped. I got up and poked my head into the kitchen to make sure that she was all-right. She was lying on the floor, staring at the ceiling. "Peanut butter?" I asked, referring to a peanut butter and honey sandwich. She sat up and looked at me for a minute but then she nodded her head. I smiled and picked her up off the floor. I'd won my first battle ever with my daughter and to be honest, I was feeling a bit proud of myself.  
  
After I fed her and walked back to Pony and Soda's room and tried knocking on the door. "Go away, jerk." I heard Pony say.  
  
"Ponyboy Curtis, I don't care if you're mad at me. Don't speak to me like that."  
  
"Fine, go away 'please'." Pony said.  
  
I sighed. "Don't you wanna tell me why you're mad at me?"  
  
"You know why!" He yelled. "Leave me alone! I hate you!" I sighed and went back out into the living room, awaiting a long and tiring evening. 


	13. Chapter 13

"Katherine!" I heard a scream from my brothers' room and then I heard her start to cry. I rushed in to find out what was the matter. 

"What'd you do?" I asked, Ponyboy. He just glared at me. "You're going to have to talk to me eventually." I said.

He sighed. "All I did was yell. See Darry, look what she did to my drawings!" He pointed to various pictures he had drawn. They were all sprawled out on the floor with thousands of scribbles on every single one of them.

I sighed. "I'm sorry Pon."

"She ruined them!" He said.

"You still know better than to yell." I told him, picking Katherine up. "You scared her. She doesn't know any different. She's only one." 

"That doesn't mean that's she's incapable of driving me crazy!" Pony shrieked. "See that one right there?" He pointed to one of them. "It took me five hours to draw that!"

"I'm sorry, but it's not my fault that she did that."

"You're not sorry! You don't even care!"

"I do care." I said.

"You do not!"

I sighed. "This probably wouldn't have happened if you didn't leave things all over the floor."

"No, this wouldn't have happened if you didn't go impregnate your girlfriend when you were eighteen years old!"

"Pony-" I started.

"This is all your fault that's what." He said. "Everything that's been going on around here lately is _your_ fault. You had to go and have a kid and then you had to be dumb enough to fall for it when 'Bella' or whatever her name is said she needed you to 'watch' her. And then what happens? I get stuck watching her instead while you're at work and when you're not at work you're busy taking care of her. You're not to busy to spend every possible waking minute of the day with her but you don't have any time for us. It's always about her now. You never pay any attention to me and Soda. You're to busy to give me a ride somewhere, to busy to make breakfast, to busy to talk, to busy to even acknowledge my existence. You were already busy enough when it was just work you had to worry about. Now there's work and a kid."

"Well tell me what it is that you wanted to talk about earlier." 

"No. I don't wanna talk anymore. I doesn't matter! I don't care! You can go ahead and completely ignore me!"

I sighed and walked out of his room. I put Katherine down and she walked around the living room. Then I flopped down in a chair. I really haven't given them the time of day recently, have I? I thought to myself. Pony was right. I didn't have any time. I looked over at Katherine. She was busily trying to get up on the piano bench. I got up and lifted her off before she fell. "You're a handful, you know that?" I said.

"Dar? Everything all-right?" Soda asked, looking up from the TV.

I shook my head and sat back down on the couch next to him. "This is really hard, kiddo." 

He scooted next to me. "It's hard for us too you know?" 

I sighed. "I don't blame you for being mad at me."

"I'm not mad at you." 

I looked over at him. "I'm sorry, little buddy. I'm making this work as best as I can."

"I know you are." Soda said. "Pony didn't mean anything when he said all that, Dar." So he did hear our little conversation. "He's just upset, that's all. It's not that he doesn't like Katherine or something like that. We do like her. She's cute as can be and she's hilarious sometimes but it's still difficult. You dig?"

I smiled at him. "Yeah, I dig. Will you talk to Pony for me?"

"YOU need to talk to him." Soda said. "He might not want to listen at first but you have to try."

I sighed. He was right. I got up and headed back to their room. "Pon? Can I come in?" I knocked. 

"No." He said sullenly. 

"C'mon, kiddo. I just wanna talk to you." 

"Well earlier today when _I _wanted to talk to you, you wouldn't even give me a second of your time. 

I sighed. "All-right, well I'm giving you my time now." He didn't say anything after that so I just opened the door and walked in. He was lying on his stomach, facing the wall. "Ponyboy." I said, softly.

"What?"

"You're right." He looked over at me surprised. "You're right. I haven't given you a second of my time in the last week." He looked back at the wall. I sighed. "You know you can't stay mad at me forever." I said.

"Can too."

"No you can't." I sat down next to him and he turned even further away from me. "You'll get bored with it after a while." He continued to pretend to ignore me. "What can I do to make it up to you?" I asked. 

"Nothing." He mumbled. 

"C'mon now. There's gotta be something."

"Nope." He said plainly. 

I smiled as an idea dawned on me and I started tickling him like crazy. At first he got mad but then he couldn't help laughing. I swear I've never met anyone as ticklish as him. "C'mon Darry!" He laughed. "Stop it!" I tickled him until he was crying with laughter and then finally stopped. "Butt head." He said, pushing me gently. I laughed. I hadn't been called that for years. 

"So, now that you're not being as hostile towards me why don't you tell me what you had on your mind?" I asked. 

He sighed. "It doesn't matter anymore."

"How come?" I asked.

"Because it just doesn't." I reached down like I was gonna tickle him again and he gave in. "Ok, ok." He said. He reached into his bag and pulled out this sheet of paper. I needed you to sign this and give me ten dollars so I could compete in this tournament earlier today. You wouldn't let me tell you though so I missed it."

I swallowed hard as I looked at the paper. "Oh baby, I'm sorry." I said. Gosh I felt horrible. 

He shrugged. "Like I said. It don't matter anymore. That happened at noon. There's always next year anyways." He said but that was a huge lie. I know how upset he was even though he was trying to hide it and not to cry. 

"Ponyboy, I-"

"The coach could only pick six kids off the Tulsa track team to compete." Pony said softly. "I was one of the six that he picked. I wonder who took my place." 

I don't think I've ever felt so disgusted with myself in my entire twenty one years of living. I put my hand on his shoulder. "Pony, I'm SO sorry." I said. "I'm sorry, I'm so so sorry, baby." He nodded and stuffed the piece of paper back into his bag. I sighed, thinking hard of some way that I could make it up to him. "Hey, lets all go get some dinner and see a movie. Just you, me, and Sodapop." I said.

He looked up at me surprised. "But you have to-"

"Don't worry about Katherine. We'll find a sitter. Guys night out."

"Tonight?" Pony asked. I nodded. "You mean it?" 

I smiled. "Yeah, I mean it."

"But it's almost eight and if we leave now we'll get back around one. Not to mention you hate movies."

  
I shrugged. "So we'll have a late night and I can bare to see one movie. Besides me and Soda don't have work tomorrow anyways so we can stay out as long as you want. We'll do whatever you and Soda want. You name it and we'll do it." 

"Tuff!" he yelled and jumped on me, giving me a huge hug.

"Whoa there little buddy. Calm down." I laughed and hugged back.

He grinned widely at me and scrambled off his bed. "I'm gonna go tell Soda!" I smiled and got up, to get ready myself. Taking them out tonight wouldn't make up for what I caused Pony to miss out on but at least it was something. The last time we all went out and did something together was the rumble right before Johnny and Dally died and that certainly didn't count. 

"Hey, Dar. I bet Amanda would watch the kid." Soda said, when I walked out into the living room. I had showered and changed out of my filthy working attire. 

"That'd be tuff if she would." I said. "Would you call her."

"Sure thing." Soda said, picking up the phone. Ponyboy was practically bouncing off the walls by this time. Gosh, do I really neglect him that much that he gets this excited when I spend time with him? I thought to myself. Note to self: make sure to spend quality time with Ponyboy at least three times a week- if possible. 


	14. Chapter 14

"This is fun." Pony said. "We should do this every night." I laughed. Yeah right. I thought. "Really though, we should. Dinner, movies, ice-cream, bowling. it's fun." I'd taken them all over the town and complied to all of their requests. I felt that I owed Pony at least that much for making him miss that tournament. I really did feel lousy about it and I knew how much it meant to him even if he wouldn't say so.  
  
My little brother was hopping around happily. You'd think the kid would be tired at two a.m. but I hadn't seen him more hyper in a long time. "Ponyboy, calm down." I said. "You're driving me out of my mind."  
  
"Sorry." He said, hopping on my back so he could hitch a ride back to the truck. "I think I'm high on Pepsi."  
  
"Man you're high on something." Soda mumbled. Now that wasn't even funny. "The nights been fun but is it over yet?" Soda yawned. I laughed.  
  
"No, lets go see another movie." Ponyboy said.  
  
"We just saw two." I said. I honestly didn't think I could bare to see another. I did not need to know about the problems of all those fiction characters. For some reason Pony really enjoys movies though but I never have understood why. "Get on in." I said, dropping him on his feet as we reached the car. "I'm out of energy for tonight."  
  
"Dido." Soda said getting in and resting his head against the window.  
  
"I'm not." Ponyboy said, bouncing up and down in his seat.  
  
"Knock that off." I said, pulling out of the parking spot. I really should've monitored his caffeine intake. I think he drank about five Pepsi's at the theatre. He was getting way to hooked on those things. I bet you can guess what his next request was.  
  
"Lets go get more cola. I'm thirsty." He said, quit chipper and very unlike himself.  
  
"No way." I said. "No more of that for you kiddo. You're practically bouncing all over the place."  
  
"Can we go do this all again tomorrow?"  
  
"Pon, you know I'm busy. The possibility of that is highly unlikely when you think realistically." I said.  
  
"Then don't be so realistic." Pony said. Soda laughed at that.  
  
"Poor Amanda." I said. "We sure left her there with Katherine for quit a while. Her dad knows she babysitting right?"  
  
"I'd assume so." Soda said.  
  
"I'm a Yankee doodle dandy." Pony sang.  
  
"Shut up!" Me and Soda both chorused.  
  
"You guys aren't any fun." He pouted.  
  
"We're just tired, kiddo." I said. "And you're acting a bit odd right now. A little unlike yourself."  
  
"I'm just happy!" Pony grinned. Then he stopped grinning and he looked like he was in deep thought. "Darry." He said softly.  
  
"Yeah?" I asked.  
  
"I'm sorry I told you I hated you earlier today." He mumbled. "I don't hate you."  
  
I smiled. "I know you don't." He reached over and gave me a hug. I'd heard the words 'I hate you' many times ever since I started taking care of my brothers. I guess when you're parenting you get it a lot. But they always apologized later.  
  
We got home a few minutes later. Amanda was asleep on the couch so Soda woke her up and drove her home. Ponyboy flopped onto the couch to watch TV and I went to check on Katherine, then went to bed.  
  
"Darry wake up." Pony shook me the next morning. "Katherine wants 'Num Yum.' She wouldn't eat the breakfast that Soda made, just the chocolate cake and that's gone now." I chuckled and rolled over onto my back to face him. He was holding her on his hip and standing there impatiently.  
  
"Did you sleep at all last night?" I asked, noting the black circles under his eyes. He shrugged. I rolled my eyes and got up slowly. "It's early to bed for you tonight, Pon." He moaned.  
  
"Upy." Katherine said, reaching out to me. I took her and walked out with them into the living room.  
  
"You slept late." Soda said. He was sitting with Two-Bit and Steve, playing poker.  
  
"Did Amanda take that money I told you to give her?" I asked, putting Katherine down and stretching.  
  
"No, she wouldn't." Soda replied, simply. "I tried but she said she didn't mind watching Kat and we didn't have to pay her. I'll take her out to a nice dinner some time and make it up to her." Soda said, smirking. "We'll both enjoy that."  
  
"I'm sure you will." I mumbled, walking into the kitchen. "Katherine c'mere." I called, searching the ice-box.  
  
She trotted in a few seconds later, holding a teddy bear and sucking on two of her fingers. "Wan cak." She said, pointing to the empty cake platter on the kitchen counter.  
  
"It's gone." I tried to explain. "The cake went bye bye."  
  
"Wan ike ceam." She said, once she had accepted the fact that there was no more cake left.  
  
"How about eggs?" I said. She shook her head. I sighed. Did we have to do this again? "Well you can't have ice-cream because it's ten in the morning and you haven't had breakfast. I know that means absolutely nothing to you but what can I say? Eggs first, then ice-cream. Comprendo kiddo?" She looked at me strangely.  
  
"Copend." She said, trying to say that new and unfamiliar word. I laughed and put her in her high chair. Then I made her some eggs and to my surprise she ate them. "Upy." She said, when she was through. I lifted her up and cleaned her off. Kids her age really make a mess when they eat but you probably already knew that. I put her in the living room with some toys and went to do the dishes. 


	15. Chapter 15

"It looks like you've got your own personal masseuse ." Soda said. Katherine was walking and crawling all over my back as I lied on the couch. I don't know why she found it so amusing but it sure felt good. I was a little worried she'd fall off and hit her head on the coffee table but she seemed to balance real well.  
  
"Boom!" She yelled as she jumped up into the air and then landed on my back again, falling into a sitting position and then giggling.  
  
"Oomph." That one kind of knocked the air out of me. Everybody found it quite humorous.  
  
"Bang! Bang! Bang!" She yelled. She had gotten back up and was jumping all over me now.  
  
I was holding my arm out on the side of the couch just waiting for her to fall and she did. I got her and pushed her back up on my back. She didn't stand up again though. Instead she crawled over to were I was resting my head on the pillow. I half closed my eyes as I saw her coming. I could see the blur above me which I knew was her and I shot open my eyes saying "Boo!" She fell back a bit and started laughing like nuts. I smiled and sat up as I lifted her off of me and set her back on the floor.  
  
"Gen! Gen!" She squealed.  
  
"Does anybody know what 'gen' means?" I asked my friends and brothers who where all playing a round of cards.  
  
"Yeah." Two-Bit said. "I remember my little sister used to say it when she wanted me to give her another piggy back ride. I think she's saying again."  
  
I nodded. That made sense. So I looked at Katherine, real calm like and then shouted out "Boo!" and just like before she giggled like crazy.  
  
"Gen! Gen!"  
  
Everyone laughed. "No we'll play boo another time." I said, knowing that she probably wouldn't ever stop saying again.  
  
"Gen!" She said. I picked her up and held her on my hip, trying to distract her from the 'boo' game. It worked but then she started to entertain herself by pulling on my hair. That got really annoying after awhile so I finally pushed her hand away but that didn't work so I put her down. I watched the remainder of the game. Steve won.  
  
"Pony. It's your night to cook." I said.  
  
"What's he gonna cook if we ain't got any food in the house?" Soda said.  
  
"We've got food." I said.  
  
"No we don't. Haven't you looked in the fridge lately. You haven't gone shopping since Katherine got here." I sighed.  
  
"What time is it?" Two-Bit asked.  
  
"It's almost five p.m." Steve answered.  
  
"I gotta go. I'll see ya'll later." Two-Bit said, heading out the door before we could even say goodbye to him.  
  
"Soda, will you go to the store for me?" I asked.  
  
He sighed. "Man, why can't you do it?"  
  
"Hey, you can do me a simple favor and go get groceries." I said.  
  
"Stevie, will you come with me?" He asked.  
  
"Yeah." Steve said, getting up. I grabbed some paper and wrote down everything I could think of that we'd need and then gave it to Soda.  
  
"Darry, can I go see a movie?" Pony asked.  
  
"No, we all saw two last night." I said.  
  
"So? Why does that mean I can't go see another? I've got plenty of money from babysitting Katherine."  
  
"Money ain't the problem. We were out real late last night and you didn't get a wink of sleep because you got so loaded up with caffeine. I want you in bed early tonight, kiddo."  
  
"Well, I'll go see a movie right now and I'll get home before eight. That's plenty early to be in." Pony said, trying hard to convince me. I wished he'd stop. I wasn't gonna change my mind.  
  
"No, it's gonna get dark out and you ain't got anybody going with you. I can't drive you both ways either. I'm busy."  
  
"You're always busy." Pony groaned.  
  
"Pony, don't you start that." I warned. "Don't you play the guilt game. I said no movies tonight."  
  
"Oh c'mon, Darry. Please?" He begged, giving me that puppy dog face. It didn't work for a second.  
  
I was beginning to get aggravated at this point. "Ponyboy, if you ask me one more time you ain't gonna be seeing any more movies for week." I said sternly.  
  
He sighed and flopped down on the couch. "I've got track tomorrow at four. Will you come pick me up?"  
  
"It ends at five thirty right?" He nodded. "Yeah, I'll get you on my way home from work. I might be a few minutes late though because I have to pick up Katherine too. I can't be late for that or they'll charge me more."  
  
"Ok." He said. I looked over at Katherine who was trying to open up the screen door but was unsuccessful, thankfully.  
  
I sighed remembering the phone conversation I'd had earlier that day. "You're out of sick days Curtis. Either you're here tomorrow night or you're out of the job." I hadn't been going to my night job. I worked late nights three to five days a week depending on how business was and I hadn't shown up at all that week because I didn't know what to do with Katherine. My brothers sure didn't wanna watch her and I don't know of any daycares that run during the night.  
  
"Pony, you and Sodapop are gonna have to watch her tomorrow night." I said. "I can't miss any more of work. I'm sure to get fired if I do."  
  
"You said you hate that bartending job anyways." Pony mumbled. He paused for a second. "I'll do it if you let me go see a movie tonight." He tired.  
  
"Ponyboy." I said sharply.  
  
He sighed deeply. "It just ain't fair Darry. Why do me and Soda always get stuck watching her. Especially me. Maybe Amanda will baby-sit her again."  
  
"Oh sure." I said. "Like I'm gonna leave Soda and Amanda here alone together until 12:30 a.m." Pony snickered. "Listen, Katherine would be in bed most of the time anyways."  
  
"You usually can't ever get her to sleep until late." Pony said.  
  
"Well, I'll put her to bed before I leave tomorrow night at eight. Then she'll just sleep the whole time I'm gone and all you and Soda need to do is keep an ear out for her."  
  
"All-right." He sighed.  
  
"Thank you." I said, getting up to get Katherine because she had accomplished her mission of opening the door and was now attempting to walk outside. She squealed angrily as I picked her up. Boy she was stubborn. "She kind of reminds me of you two." I said to Pony once I had brought her back in. "She likes to sneak out of the house at night."  
  
"Nah." Pony said, smiling widely. "Me and Sodapop don't ever use the door. Our bedroom window is much more efficient." He frowned. "Why did I just tell you that?" I laughed and set Katherine back down, closing the screen door tight. 


	16. Chapter 16

Guess what time it was? Ten p.m. Guess what else? Katherine wouldn't go to bed. And know what else? Soda wasn't home from buying groceries yet. I was finding it a bit hard to believe that it was taking him four hours to go shopping. He'd been gone since six p.m. I ended up making pancakes for dinner since we didn't have much food in the house and Soda wasn't bringing anymore home. I had been trying to put Katherine to bed for the past hour and a half but she wouldn't have it. I tried putting her in her crib again. I laid her down, put the big pink baby quilt over her, and rushed towards the door. I did all this so quickly that I almost made it by the time she started screaming. I sighed deeply and flicked the light back on. "C'mon." I pleaded, picking her up again. "Please just go to sleep, Katherine."  
  
She sniffled and started to suck on the zipper on her pajamas. I sighed and carried her into my room, laying her down on the bed and then getting comfortable next to her. I closed my eyes and pretended to sleep, hoping that she'd mimic me but she did quit the opposite. Instead she stood up and started bouncing on the bed. I sat up and caught her in mid air. "I give up." I mumbled, holding her above me and making noises similar to that of an airplane. She giggled wildly and clapped. I brought her back down when my arms got tired and put her on my lap.  
  
"Katherine." She looked up at me thoughtfully. "You have got to go to sleep."  
  
She got a stubborn little look on her face and tightened her small lips. It was so funny I had to hold back laughter. "No bed!" She said, in her tiny yet angry voice. I sighed, smiling slightly at her stubbornness. It was no wonder that she was stubborn. Me and Brooke both are the most hard headed people ever. When I want something one way I won't settle for it any other way. That's undoubtedly where are daughter got it from.  
  
I then took her back into her own room, flicking the light off and pacing around with her on my shoulder. After about twenty full minutes of bouncing her up and down and rocking a little bit back and forth I could hear her light breathing. I carefully placed her in the crib and tucked her in, staring down at her for a few moments before very quietly exiting the room so I wouldn't wake her.  
  
I walked out into the living room to where Pony was stretched across the sofa watching TV. His eyes weren't hardly half open and exhaustion was written all over him. I sighed and braced myself for bedtime battle number two. "Pony, you need to go to bed." He looked up at me, pleading for more time with solely the look on his face. "Don't look at me like that. You said yourself that you didn't sleep at all last night. You ain't getting enough rest and you're bound to get sick. Then if you get sick we'll all catch it and I really don't wanna have to deal with that. Now go on to sleep." He whimpered slightly and gave me that look again. I rolled my eyes. "Ponyboy, I don't have the patience for this right now." I warned.  
  
He sighed deeply. "Fine." He got up and headed towards the hallway. "I ain't even tired."  
  
"Sure." I said, watching my exhausted baby brother mope off to bed. "And if I catch you up and reading at four in the morning again you ain't gonna get off nearly as easy as you did last time. You hear me?" I said.  
  
"Yeah." He mumbled, disappearing into his bedroom.  
  
Now that I had gotten the two nocturnal members of my family to get some rest, I set out to clean up the house. There were plenty of dished that needed to be done from that morning. Why Pony and Soda didn't do them I don't know but I'd make sure they did them the next day.  
  
It wasn't until 2:10 a.m. that Soda walked through the door. I had finished everything I needed to do, believe it or not. He didn't have any groceries with him as expected and he had a couple hickies on his neck so that took care of where he'd been. "Hey, Dar." He said. "It's late. I thought you'd be sleeping by now."  
  
"Yeah." I said, putting the paper down. "It is late, isn't it?" I stood up. "Where've you been?" I didn't really need to ask that question because I already knew but I wanted to see what his answer would be.  
  
"Out with Amanda." He said, scratching the back of his head. "Where's Pony? Is he sleeping already?"  
  
I ignored his question. "I send you out to get groceries and you come home at this hour and with these?" I pointed to the red marks on his neck.  
  
"Oh yeah. That's right. The store. I'm sorry, I forgot." He said.  
  
"Yeah, sure you did. And what are you doing with these?" I demanded, referring to the hickies again. "I thought I told you I didn't wanna see anymore of those on you."  
  
"Yeah, yeah." He mumbled. "But I did forget about the store. I saw Amanda while I was in town and took her out for a shake. I had planned on going back and buying the groceries after."  
  
That was a sure lie. "Yet you didn't." I said.  
  
"I forgot." He shrugged. I looked at him sternly. He was really pushing it. "Ok fine. I didn't forget. I was having a good time and I didn't wanna go to the store. I woulda called you."  
  
"Well you didn't call and you didn't do the one simple thing I asked you to do. Do you know what time it is?"  
  
"Eleven?" He guessed.  
  
"You wish. It's passed two o'clock in the morning. You'd just better stop breaking curfew kid or I'm gonna shorten it to twelve. You didn't even have permission to go out in the first place." He sighed. "Where's the money I gave you?" He looked away quickly. "Sodapop."  
  
"What? Pay day ain't till next Friday. I needed some cash. Besides you owe Amanda for babysitting anyways so consider her paid."  
  
"It costs you fifty bucks to buy milk shakes?" I asked.  
  
"Well, no." he said, slowly. "I also bought her this real cute little necklace and some chocolate. But I didn't spend all fifty." He added quickly. "I've still got twenty two dollars left. I hardly even spent more than half" He took the rest out of his pocket and handed it to me. Yeah sure there was twenty two left but when I gave him the money there was fifty. Yet somehow it had gotten down to twenty two and there were no groceries in his hands!  
  
"Dang it Soda!" I barked. "What's the matter with you? I gave you as much as I spend on groceries weekly and you spent it on your girlfriend. What in the worlds the occasion anyways?"  
  
"The I have money occasion." Soda said, grinning. Oh no. Uh uh. That smile was not gonna work this time.  
  
"Give me your license."  
  
"What license?"  
  
"You know what I mean. Your drivers license. Give it to me."  
  
"How come?" He asked.  
  
"Because you're being irresponsible and you don't get to drive nowhere for the next week."  
  
"That ain't fair." He said.  
  
"I don't care weather or not you think it's fair. You just lied to my face. Now give it to me." He sighed and reached into his wallet, pulling it out and handing it to me reluctantly.  
  
"A whole week, Darry?"  
  
"That's what I said, ain't it?"  
  
"Oh c'mon. Give me a break already."  
  
"This is as much of a break as you're gonna get. You know better than to go and do something like that. And if you're not responsible enough to go shopping, you're obviously not responsible enough to be driving yourself around. Not to mention you spent nearly thirty bucks of my money on Amanda and that's far more than I owed her for babysitting Kat."  
  
"Well gosh, it ain't like I'm never gonna pay you back."  
  
"That ain't the point and you know it. Now go to bed."  
  
"Man." He groaned, heading towards his room. I sighed and shook my head, turning off all the lights in the house and shutting the blinds. I knew he was gonna give me trouble for the next few days but I can't teach my brothers unless I punish them when they've done wrong. If I didn't then I'd be doing wrong myself. 


	17. Chapter 17

"Wake up, kiddo." I shook my youngest brother. It was past noon and he was still in bed so It was definitely time I dragged him out of it. He moaned and rolled over. I smiled half heartedly. "C'mon now. You've been dosing all day." He yawned. "Still tired huh? Maybe I should send you to bed at an early hour tonight too." That did it. He was up.  
  
"I was only resting." He mumbled, groggily. I was glad I'd made him go to bed early the night before or he would've been a complete wreck today. As a result of bedtime at ten he was only acting as bad as his usual morning self.  
  
"Sure you were." I said. "Lunch is in the kitchen. You missed breakfast."  
  
"Wait a second you can't send me to bed early tonight anyways." He said, laying back down. "You want me to watch Katherine."  
  
Shoot. I thought. He remembered. "Pony get up, right now." I said sternly.  
  
"Why?" He moaned.  
  
"If your not up on the count of three I'm gonna sit on you." I threatened.  
  
"Aaaaargh."  
  
"One." I started.  
  
"But Darry-" He whined. That high pitched, extremely annoying whine he gives me when he really doesn't want to do something. I hate it when he does that.  
  
"Two." I said, raising my voice a bit, letting him know I wanted him up and out of that bed.  
  
"But I'm tired." He whined again.  
  
"I'm not kidding, Ponyboy. Two and a half-"  
  
"Ok. Ok. I'm up." He said, standing up and rubbing the sleep out of his eyes.  
  
"Bah boom!" Katherine yelled, running into the room and diving under his legs.  
  
Pony rolled his eyes. "It's a new game Soda taught her." I explained.  
  
"Peachy." He said, heading out towards the kitchen.  
  
"Bye bye!" Katherine yelled after him. Sheish. He could at least say hi to her. "Upy!" She demanded, holding her arms out to me. I scooped her up and followed my moping brother out of the room.  
  
"Hey Dar, I just got this call and I gotta go to the-"  
  
"Don't you dare ask for your license back." I said. It hadn't even been one day yet. He was definitely not getting a break after one day. I didn't usually change my mind about stuff like this. I'm stubborn as I've told you before and when I tell my brothers they're grounded they usually stay grounded. Unless for some reason I was wrong to do that. But that rarely happens.  
  
He started again. "But, Darry. I really wanna pick up-"  
  
"If you ask I'll put you in your room for an hour."  
  
He sighed, not wanting to have room confinement. Soda can't sit still for a second. He's always moving around and doing something. So he contained himself by flipping the TV on and sitting down with a bag of potato chips. "Fine Darry." He said after a minute. "If you don't give me my license back I'm not watching Katherine tonight."  
  
"Yes you are and drop the subject." I said.  
  
"Why is it our job to watch her?" He asked.  
  
"Do you want to have food in the fridge next month or should I just get fired?" I asked. He shut up momentarily.  
  
"So I get my license back next Friday night right? Since you took away my license yesterday?"  
  
"No you'll get your license back next Sunday. Not Friday."  
  
"Why?!" He shrieked.  
  
"Because today is Sunday and it's the first day of your punishment. I said a week."  
  
"You know I could just take the keys and leave." He snapped. "It's not the end of the world if I don't have my license while I'm driving."  
  
"Yeah, I suppose you could do that." I said. "I don't think it'd be such a smart idea though. Then you'd get yourself grounded and that's worse than the ditch that you're already in. Much worse." He sighed and quit. This time he really did quit though. He gave up and I congratulated myself for yet another victory.  
  
Yuck. What is that. Something smells vulgar. "Katherine, c'mere." I said.  
  
"ladumicksee." She said, speaking some form of baby language and completely ignoring me. I sighed and went over to her instead. Yup that smell was definitely coming from her. I picked her up and carried her back to her room for a diaper change, returning five minutes later to a very unpleasant surprise. Pony had puked all over the floor. Soda was kneeling down next to him, rubbing his back as he coughed. I put Katherine down near her toys and went to get some towels and carpet cleaner.  
  
"You got a stomach ache, Pon?" I asked as I cleaned it up, trying hard not to vomit myself at the site of it. It's kinda funny yah know? I can stand getting busted open and bloody in rumbles but I can't stand the site of vomit.  
  
"Kinda." He said weekly, sitting back down on the couch.  
  
"He's warm, Dar." Soda said feeling his forehead.  
  
"Figures." I mumbled. "I hear the flues going around. Go on and lie down honey." Pony and Soda stood up and he took him back to his room. I finished cleaning up the mess and went in to check on my brother. So much for him babysitting tonight. Soda would have to watch Katherine himself not to mention keep an eye on Ponyboy. I didn't want to leave Soda with all that stuff to do and I didn't want to leave Pony when he was sick either but I had to go to work or I'd be out of the job and I couldn't let that happen.  
  
I put Katherine to bed before I left, hoping she wouldn't wake up until tomorrow morning. She gets real fussy when she wakes up after she's been sleeping for a few hours and I knew Soda wouldn't wanna deal with that let alone KNOW how to deal with that. As for Pony I gave him some medicine to settle his stomach. He'd been moaning all day about how much it hurt, unless he was barfing. He always wanted more of that medicine but if I gave him to much it would just make him feel worse.  
  
Pony's flue only lasted for a couple days but guess who caught it next. 


	18. Chapter 18

That's right. You guessed it. Katherine got it next and there are few worse things than a sick baby. I didn't get a wink of sleep for the next three days. I hadn't gotten a whole lot when Ponyboy was sick either but Katherine kept me going twenty four seven, day and night, rain or shine. If she wasn't crying she was fussing and if she wasn't fussing she was throwing up and I swear it's nearly impossible to get her to rest. I'd put her in her crib and she'd stand up and want out. Or I'd lay her on my bed and she'd make her way off of it. She's a real clever little thing. 

Katherine had caught the flu nearly the second Ponyboy got over it and I was back out with the carpet cleaner. And on top of that she got a fever. I couldn't go to work because I couldn't put her in the day care center when she was sick. Ponyboy said he wasn't gonna risk catching it again and he wouldn't get near her. I don't blame him. I'm rarely getting sick and I'm thankful for that seeing as she must've thrown up on me at least five times. I guess I've built up a strong immune system after time. It makes sense since my brothers will occasionally get something and I gotta deal with it so maybe my body's just used to all the germs. Soda kept his distance from her two by my and his own command. I did not want anybody else to get this. It was miserable for the whole household. 

"C'mon now. Please quit crying." I begged. It was three o'clock in the morning and I was cradling a sick Katherine in my arms and pleading with her to let me get some sleep. Just some. Maybe only five minutes. I'd called Two-Bit's mom up right away when she got sick. I didn't know what to do for her and all or if I could even give her pepto bismol. Heck, what do you give babies when they get the flue? I didn't know if it was the same stuff I would take or different. I didn't know if this would last more than just a few days for her. Anyways, Mrs. Mathews said I should take her to the pediatrician since she's still so little and the younger they are the harder it is for their little bodies to fight the sickness off. So I took her, got a prescription, and a few helpful tips from some of the mothers in the waiting room.

"Want mama!" Katherine continued to cry. Poor kid. I could've slapped Brooke for just disappearing like this again, leaving our little girl here. I couldn't do this by myself. I didn't know how. Shoot up until a couple weeks ago I didn't even know I had a kid.

"I know, I know. She'd know what to do." I said, my voice pleading. I rocked her and held her, begging her to go to sleep for what seemed like hours on end. Finally at long last she drifted off to sleep. I didn't dare put her down in fear that she would wake up again so she spent the rest of the night laying on my stomach and I woke up to find her in the same position the next morning. I was kind of afraid I'd roll over or something but I hadn't and I trusted myself for the most part. 

"Darry!" Soda yelled from the living room, loud enough for the whole country to hear. I'm gonna clobber him! I thought, looking over at Katherine but found that she was still sleeping. I placed her on the bed very carefully and got up.

"What is it?" I whispered, walking out into the living room. "Don't be so loud, she's sleeping."

"Pony fell while we were all playing football and-"

He didn't have to finish that sentence. I saw Pony's leg as he held his bloody jeans up. The big gash must've been about four inches long. I helped him limp over to the coach and sit down. "Soda get me the first aid kit." I mumbled, sighing. Soda got up to get it. "Ponyboy, can't you be more careful."

"It ain't my fault." He said, wincing as I carefully pulled his pant leg farther up. "The dang metal fence wasn't supposed to be all messed up like that."

"Oh, swell." I said, sarcastically. "Metal? You got cut on metal. Was it rusty?" Pony shrugged. I sighed. "After we get this taken care of show me where so I can make sure I don't have to schedule an appointment for you to get a tetnis shot."

"I don't want a shot." Pony whined.

"Well if it was rusty you gotta have one or your leg will be hurting a whole lot more than a shot will."

Soda came out with the first aid kit and handed it to me. I cleaned off the big cut and looked at it more carefully, having to dab it with a towel every few seconds because it kept bleeding so much. Then I wrapped a big bandage around it. "I gotta take you to get stitches." I mumbled. He sighed. "The cuts to big not to. I can't leave Katherine here alone obviously though. Sodapop-"

"Oh no." Soda said. "C'mon Darry. I can't take care of a kid, let alone a sick one."

"We'll be back in a few minutes. If she wakes up give her a teaspoon of the pink stuff on the kitchen counter and try to get her to eat some toast but just toast and nothing else." I instructed. She would throw anything else up.

"All-right." Soda said, "But hurry up, ok? I ain't good at this babysitting business."

"You could probably manage better than I've been." I mumbled, picking Ponyboy up and off the couch and going out to the truck.


End file.
